Cheaper by the Half Dozen
by bauerfreak
Summary: As if working full time as CSI's wasn't enough to keep them busy Nick and Sara manage to balance work with four boys, two girls, and a whole lot of sibling rivalry. Presented by Bauerfreak and Lostladyknight!
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Oh my God, we're back again…sorry, a little bsb flashback for ye. LostLadyKnight and I have yet another fic for you – LLK is coming to the dark side and writing more Snickers with me. She's so awesome. This will be a collection of one shots about the Stokes children. We will write about 5 fics with the kids this age, then skip ahead a few years and write a few more…kind of "clumps" or "episodes" if you will. Here is a little cheat sheet about the children:_

_Brandon – 16 (Nick's first marriage)_

_Noah – 12 (Nick's first marriage)_

_Charlie – 10 (Sara's first marriage)_

_Marley – 5 (Sara and Nick's)_

_Jordan – 5 (Sara and Nick's)_

_Colin – 2 (Sara and Nick's)_

_Obviously, Marley and Jordan are twins. Without further ado, please enjoy, and we will love you til the ends of the earth if you review. Peace out._

1The sound was familiar, and one that didn't change much - only in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping. At any given time during the day in the Stokes household, it was noisy, boisterous, and sometimes even chaotic like it was this evening. Hardly a second during the day passed when someone wasn't doing something, saying something, or yelling something.

Tonight, it so happened that the oldest Stokes child, Brandon, who topped off the ages at sixteen, was pummeling two of his younger brothers in the hallway under suspicion of breaking several of his guitar strings while expertly holding his cell phone between his shoulder and ear. They'd tried to escape, but the junior football team jock had easily outstealthed them, and now twelve year old Noah and ten year old Charlie were begging for mercy.

"I told you I was sorry!" Charlie, his stepbrother pleaded from within the tight headlock he was trapped in. Next to him, Noah was trapped between Brandon's legs, laughing almost hysterically. Noah and Brandon were biological brothers, and he was used to his older brother's wrath. It was much more of a game to him, but to Charlie, it was quite upsetting. "I TOLD you to stay the hell out of my side of the room, didn't I? And if you ever so much as TOUCHED that guitar I'd pound you into the ground?"

The teen shifted his cell phone at his ear again with his free hand and shifted his weight so his step brother was pinned and he began a series of Indian burns up and down his own brother's arm, each time growing a bit more forceful. Finally, Noah, had enough though it took a lot longer to get him to his breaking point than Charlie, and he wasn't about to give in yet. It was, however, time to deflect the wrath of the teen. The twelve year old made eye contact with his step brother and made the only argument that might buy them a little leverage

"Why don't you go ask the girls, they love coming down to our room and taking our stuff. I bet it was Marley!"

Somehow the suggestion that the hell twin might have done it on top of the desire to say sweet nothings to the girl on the other end of the phone gave the smaller boys all the opportunity they needed. Another flash of eye contact between the two smaller boys was all the signal they needed. In perfect synchronization they both lunged upward and completely turned the tables around. By sheer luck and nothing else they found themselves, in a pile on the floor. Noah and Charlie had the advantage and Brandon was pinned. Noah realized that his brother would regain the advantage before long and took his chance to inflict mortal embarrassment on the teen. He leaned forward and around his step-brother, and snatched the phone from Brandon's ear.

"Hey Kelsey," He said with mock flirtation in his voice. "My brother says he looovveeess you. He wants to kiiiissssssssss you." This of course, was the end of his advantage.

Charlie would never have the nerve to pull such a thing, so all he could do was laugh when their oldest brother's face changed to bright red and he struggled to get his phone back.

"You little ASSHOLE!" He yelled furiously and attempted to punch Noah in the stomach. The middle boy dodged it, and that gave Brandon enough leverage to gain the upper hand, and soon it was an angry pile of arms and legs again. Just then, two year old Colin Stokes wandered out of his bedroom where his mother had just been changing him, coming across the pile of his older brothers on the floor. It looked like they were playing, so he started laughing and ran for the pile to join in.

"Tickle!!" He screeched as he jumped up on top of Noah. Closely behind, Sara followed and sighed tiredly when she saw the pack of the four boys, or animals, that occupied this house. It always seemed they were breaking up one fight or another. Sara clapped her hands together furiously a few times.

"Boys!" She yelled harshly. "Get up off the floor and knock it off!" Sara had learned to be quite firm and direct with the older boys, especially Brandon and Noah. They were all boy, solving their problems by fighting, which Nick had allowed to get them away with somewhat. 'Boys will be boys' was Nick's saying, which Sara was not a fan of. Her ten year old son, Charlie, was too small and, she admitted, wimpy to handle wrestling with the older boys. Sara quickly scooped up Colin before he got elbowed and tugged Charlie up by the shirt.

"What have your father and I told you about fighting?"

With Charlie's weight being relieved from his body Brandon had much greater ability and advantage to pummel his brother. He ignored his stepmother's warnings and turned full weight into pinning Noah to the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you little creep?" He demanded.

Sara finally had enough and said, "Brandon Stokes, don't make me tell you again. Get off of your brother right now." This made all motion in the living room come to a standstill. Four sets of eyes looked at her as though she was a force to be reckoned with. "Go set the table for dinner."

Brandon took the toddler from her arms and headed to the kitchen. Charlie and Noah both started for the door that led down to their basement bedroom when Sara caught both of them by the shirts and demanded, "What did you do now?"

"He got his panties in bunch because someone broke his guitar strings" Noah spat.

"He's such a jerk mom." Charlie added.

"That jerk is your brother" Sara defended the teen. "One of you will admit you broke the guitar and apologize to him, or neither of you will get an allowance for a month to pay to fix it!"

"Mom, I swear, it wasn't either of us!" Charlie implored, looking his mother straight in the eye. "We were playing PlayStation in the living room the whole time!" Sara sighed, wondering whether to believe them. Noah also looked like he'd been wrongly accused. They'd just taken quite a beating from their oldest brother, though, who was usually right about these things. Brandon always seemed to know what was going on with his siblings. Sara narrowed her eyes and tried to determine their sincerity.

"Then who was it?" Sara asked slowly, looking from boy to boy with her hands now on her hips. The boys straightened their hair and shrugged their shoulders.

"Marley." They said simultaneously.

The said five year old, who was one half of a set of twin girls, the first children who belonged to both Nick and Sara, was quietly trying to climb up onto the kitchen counter to steal a cookie before dinner. She was starving, and if she was going to do a good job at her dance recital that evening, she needed some nourishment. Marley stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth in concentration and worked her way up as her twin sister, Jordan, looked on nervously.

"Marley, you're gonna get in trouble." She warned her in a worried whisper. Marley didn't respond, only retrieved four chocolate chip cookies from the jar quickly, and then hopped back down. She handed two of the cookies to her sister, and just as Marley was about to bite into one of her own, a familiar hand swept it out of her hand. Nick Stokes looked disapprovingly at his twin daughters, and held his hand out for Jordan to deposit her stolen cookies into.

"Didn't your mother tell you no snacks before dinner?"

"But Daddy…" Both girls had learned when the were still forming jarbled sentences that their father had a soft spot for his girls, and starting any argument with 'but Daddy' and a certain little pout always gave them the leg up,

"Not this time ladies." Nick said, with a stern voice and a grin on his lips. He reached down and deposited one of the confiscated cookies in each of the two little hands, leaving the girls with a cookie each. He winked at them.

"Go upstairs and wash your hands before dinner." It was their special day after all, or so he told himself.

The girls' faces brightened and they smiled up appreciatively at their father. Marley and Jordan both hugged him for a few moments and then began to scurry up the stairs. Nick sighed as they took off and popped one of the other cookies in his mouth. If he kept giving in, he knew they'd be hellions as teenagers, but how could he resist their adorable, pleading faces at this age? Not that Nick let them get away with anything, but it was an unspoken fact that he gave the girls more leeway. He heard other footsteps coming towards the kitchen, so he quickly swallowed the cookie he was chewing. Soon, his oldest son, Brandon came in carrying little two year old Colin in his arms.

"Dad, I seriously need my own room." He looked pretty agitated. "Noah and Charlie broke my guitar strings." Nick swallowed and took Colin into his arms when he reached out for him. He was still pint-sized and very cuddly, except when he started throwing one of his terrible two tantrums.

"I'm sorry, bud. Don't you keep your guitar in the case when you're not using it?"

"Of course." Brandon told him, opening the refrigerator door to get out a Gatorade. "The little bastards took it out and started playing with it."

"Hey." Nick said, stopping his son right there. He tried to talk to his oldest like he was an adult but there were some things he wouldn't stand for. "We don't use that type of language in this house, and we most certainly don't use that kind of language when we're talking about family. No phone for the rest of the day."

"Dad, that's stupid." the boy said, taking as sip of his orange Gatorade and setting it on the counter. "The boys say worse all the time. You ought to hear Noah when he's talking to his friends."

"Noah didn't just call his little brothers bastards to my face" Nick countered. He passed a stack of forks, knives, napkins, and plates to his son. He decided to level with him. "Look Brand, you know we just don't have the space. Things were different before Colin came. Man, you're just going to have to share the basement with your brothers for a couple of more years."

"Until I go to college, great Dad, that's real fair!"

Sometimes Brandon could be extremely pig-headed and unwilling to be reasoned with. Nick thought he got it from his mother.

"What do you want me to do, Brandon?" Nick held out his arms, open to any suggestions. "My hands are tied. We don't have any more rooms left in the house."

Brandon shook his head and worked his tongue around in his mouth a little in frustration.

"Things were a lot better before you guys started popping out more kids." He retorted rudely, knowing his father wouldn't like it. Brandon was sick of trying to be nice about things. Blended families sucked, and he for one was tired of things always being so noisy, and never having any privacy.

"Brandon." Nick's voice was stern and he raised his eyebrows at his youngest. "Enough. I'm sorry if you don't like things, but that's not gonna change it. Set the table and I don't wanna hear another word." Brandon rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen to set the table for eight. Six kids and two adults under one roof was too many in his opinion.

"Daddy, da boys didn't bweak da stwings." Colin informed his father with his toddler lisp from where he was settled in Nick's arms. Nick stopped what he was doing and looked at his youngest. "They didn't? Do you know who did?"

He nodded his head yes and scratched his ear a little.

"But I'm not 'sposed ta teww." Colin put his finger up to his mouth, as if indicating to keep things quiet. Nick suspected who the culprit was, if Colin had been told not to tattle.

"Was it Marley?" He asked the toddler. Colin giggled and covered his eyes with his hands.

"I don't know!!"

Brandon pushed the high chair up to the table and then set everything down. He walked over to his littlest brother and stood him up on the floor so he faced him. He knelt down gently and took both of the child's shoulders in his hands.

"Colin, you don't have to say anything, just nod okay?" The toddler nodded his head. "Did Jordan break my strings?"

The child's head shook from side to side.

"Did you break my strings?" Brandon asked, and again the boy shook his head no.

"Did Marley break the strings?" This time the two year old gave his brother an affirmative nod.

"Thanks kid. I knew you were my favorite brother for a reason." Brandon ruffled the two year old's hair and walked back to the table to finish setting it. He'd deal with Marley later.

Nick, who had watched his eldest go from spouting of profane insults about his brothers to being as good with a two year old as he was. "If you want, you can move up stairs into Colin's room with him... I'm sure he won't break your stuff... much... for at least another year."

"Very funny Dad." Brandon gave his father a glare and finished setting the table.

"Will you go round up your brothers and sisters for dinner, bud?" Nick requested of his toddler son. Colin happily complied, pleased that his brother and his father seemed so happy with him. He liked to help his family out, though hopefully Marley wouldn't find out he'd tattled on her. Colin had been told, along with all the other children, that telling the truth was always the right thing. Only, in this house, if you tattled on someone, you could almost count on some payback. Colin successfully rounded up the rest of the family, and about five minutes later, they had all finally sat down at the table to generous helpings of stir fry and mashed potatoes. Nick had chosen not to confront Marley at the moment, because he enjoyed having a nice family dinner with all the kids and his wife. Plus, he could see if Marley was acting guilty at all. At five, she had already gotten pretty good at hiding it. "Mommy, is everyone comin' to the recital?" Jordan asked her mother in a quiet voice as she pushed her meats and veggies around.

"Yes baby, everyone's going to come. We wouldn't miss your first recital for anything in the world" Sara answered her daughter. It was no secret in that household that the only child who spent less time in trouble than Jordan was Colin. Jordan was the picture of manners on top of being very shy.

"If you want me to go to the recital," Brandon said with a glare across the table at his younger sister "Then someone has to deal with Marley."

"Brandon, now is not the time." Nick chastised his son. "Marley, when everyone's done with dinner I want you to hang out at the table with Mom and me."

"He told!" She said, putting on the angriest face she could muster. She stuck her tongue out at her little brother. "You stupid little tattle tale."

"Dad, you're not going to let her get away with that are you?" Brandon asked. "You wouldn't let me get away with acting like that at the table."

Nick cleared his throat, wishing they could eat dinner in peace for once. It seemed that at least someone was always at it with another family member.

"If you both don't knock it off, you'll be in your rooms eatin' by yourselves." He warned his two bickering offspring, then turned his head to look at Marley. "Marley, we don't say stupid in this house. I don't wanna hear it again."

The girl in question frowned and looked down at her plate in frustration. She glared at her little brother Colin whose innocent, wide eyes looked back worriedly at her. Marley stuck out her tongue again and gave him the most evil glare she could muster up without getting into more trouble.

The conversation tried to take a turn to more pleasant things, talking about the recital coming up and what they'd all done at school and work that day. However, a couple minutes later, after having mean looks shot at him for quite a while, Colin started crying. Sara, who was sitting next to him, reached out and began rubbing his back.

"Baby, what's the matter?" She asked him soothingly. Marley acted nonchalant and took a sip of her milk. Like her twin, she was also known for certain things in this house, one of which was taunting her siblings.

"Marwey's makin' faces at meee!"

"Marley Nicole how many times do I have to tell you to stop picking on your brothers and sister?" Nick said with a stern exasperation. "Go sit in the den and wait for me. You and I are going to have a talk."

"Daddy, I didn't do it." Marley tried to protest. "Colin's lying."

"If you keep it up," Sara joined in "You're going to make it so we all come straight home after your recital and we don't go get any ice cream, so that you can go straight to bed."

"Mommy that's not fair." Marley whined. "It's all Colin's fault... if he wasn't such a tattle tale."

"Your father told you to go sit in the den." Sara said as she crossed her arms and looked her daughter straight in the eyes. If anyone in the house had the ability to put the kids into line with a single look, it was Sara.

Marley's face took on a putrid expression. She hated having to go wait in the den, and especially her father having a "talk" with her, which usually consisted on him giving her some stern words, and her not saying much. Marley pushed her chair out angrily and crossed her arms over her chest, then stomped all the way to the den, letting the whole house know how she felt about Nick's order. Nick sighed at his daughter's behavior, but then winked at Colin.

"I'm sorry she was bugging you, buddy. I'll deal with her once dinner's finished." The little boy nodded, knowing his dad would take care of things. Brandon shook his head at Marley's general temperament. If it was him sticking his tongue out, he would've gotten much worse. It was easy to see that Nick favored the girls. Brandon wouldn't even go to the recital if Jordan wasn't performing in it too. She was a nice kid, at least. The rest of dinner passed rather uneventfully about ten minutes later. Nick told Brandon and Noah to do the dishes, which they groaned at but obeyed, and then he disappeared back to the den to deal with Marley. He walked in to find her playing around with a string game quite harshly, trying to do Jacob's Ladder. She narrowed her eyes at him bravely as he sat on the couch next to where she was laying.

"Sit up. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Nick watched as Charlie walked past them with Colin in arms. He was taking him up stairs, presumably to get him cleaned up for the recital. He had enough time to watch his step son leave disappear completely up the stairs leading to baby's room before he heard so much as a peep out of his daughter.

"Daddy it's just so hard having four brothers. They never want to play with me and when they do play with me they're always being mean. And you and mommy love Jordan more. Nobody cares about me. So I guess I just do bad things because I'm mad."

"Honey we love you and Jordan and all four boys just exactly the same" Nick said, stroking his daughter's long brown hair. She always wore it free falling or with a headband, unlike her sister who always had her hair up in a high ponytail.

"If you love us all the same then how come I'm the one who's always in trouble?" Marley asked and then rubbed her nose through a sniffle, she was about to start crying.

"You don't get into any more trouble than Noah, Charlie, and Brandon." Nick told his little girl with a short laugh. "And you get into trouble so much because you make so much trouble."

"So you don't like me as much?" She ventured a guess, figuring a kid who got in trouble a lot just annoyed her parents. Marley looked up at her father's face, but then it became blurry as her eyes filled with tears. Swiftly, she was pulled up into his lap for a warm hug and a kiss to the top of her head.

"No. Like I said, you're still figuring out right from wrong, and you can be pretty mischievous, so you do get in trouble a lot. But Mommy and I will love you no matter what you do. You understand?" Marley's face was up against her father's strong chest, and she listened to the reassuring sound of his heartbeat as she calmed down. She nodded and wiped at her eyes some more.

"Good. Now, all that aside, you're still in trouble for what you did." He assured her she wasn't getting out of punishment because of her tears. It sure made it harder for him to be mad at her when she cried. Brandon and Noah had never been this emotional when they were her age, and Jordan was even more so.

"You know it's the rules that you don't touch other people's stuff without getting permission. Right?"

Marley nodded. "Yes, sir." She agreed.

"And then you lied by trying to cover it up, and tried to blame it on Colin." Marley sighed, feeling pretty bad about what she'd done now. Plus, she had made faces at her younger brother for doing what they all knew was the right thing. "So, how are you gonna fix what you did wrong?"

"I'm gonna say sorry to Brand and Colin and then I'm gonna do extra chores around the house to earn the money so you and mommy can buy him new guitar strings." She rattled off what she was going to do in a singsong voice. "And then I'm going to say sorry to Mommy because I was rude to her at the table."

"Well, that's all very good." Nick told his daughter, "But you did try to blame your brother, and that was a lie."

"So I have to go to bed a whole hour early every day this week" She sighed, she knew all of the punishments already.

"That's right," Nick said, and then he wrapped his daughter up in his arms again and kissed her forehead. "I love you baby girl. Now go up stairs and get ready. You only have about ten minutes before we have to leave."

Marley let out a dramatic gasp at the amount of time she had to get her costume on and get her hair put up in a bun. Of course, the only person in the house who was capable of making a nice, tight hair bun was Sara, and she would have to make two perfect ones for both girls.

"Love you, Daddy!" Marley called as she ran for the stairs. Nick smirked and called that he loved her also, then got up to help with the other kids. Colin would need his shoes on, and try to go to the bathroom before they left. Meanwhile, Marley skipped into the bathroom, where her mother was doing Jordan's hair, pulling her dark brown hair up in a perfect bun. She wrapped her arms around her mother's slim waist and hugged her tightly.

"Sorry I was rude, Mommy. I love you." Marley apologized. Sara took her eyes off concentrating on Jordan's hair for a moment to look down at her twin. Two identical little girls, with vastly different personalities. It was amazing, the differences between Marley and Jordan. However, they both shared a love for ballet.

"Thank you for apologizing, baby. Why don't you go find your costume and I'll do your hair when you're dressed."

The girls had to be at the theatre twenty five minutes before the house opened and Nick still needed to take a shower, himself, before they left. He knew that his whole family hated it when he did that but he'd taken to taking on longer shifts since the twins and Colin all came, so that Sara could spend more time at home with the kids. Thus he called Brandon into the room and gave him a set of car keys and said "Put the baby seat in the wagon and take the Taurus. And don't for get to sign the girls in."

"Yeah okay Dad." Brandon said and with a yell up the stairs two identical little girls in green and blue sequined dresses emerged and ran to the car.

Fifteen minutes later Sara received a call on her cell phone, after reading the screen she pulled the phone to her ear and said "Hey baby, what's up?"

"Hey Sara." Brandon's voice called into the phone. "Jordan's freaking out a little. She's getting pretty nervous."

"Well babe, tell her we're on our way and that she's going to do great." Sara told her stepson.

"I tried. She's crying but Marley and I can't seem to calm her down." He said with a sigh. Jordan was usually really receptive to the Stokes charm. Brandon, Noah, and Nick had always been able to soothe her better than anyone else, even when she was just an infant.

Sara rubbed her forehead in worry. When Jordan got in one of her moods, she stayed there until something was done to comfort her. Everyone knew she'd only calm down if either she or Nick was with her. She felt bad that they hadn't thought about this before they'd sent the girls ahead with Brandon. It was the girls' first recital, and very likely that Jordan would be getting some nerves.

"I'm sorry, Brand. Can you put her on the phone?" Brandon, pressed the cell phone to his upper chest as he knelt down in front of his little sister.

"Jordan, it's Mom. They're almost here." He assured her, and held the phone out for her to take. Sara heard Jordan's emotional crying as the phone was being passed over.

"Mommy, I don't wanna do this. I wanna go home!" She told her mother tearfully. Sara looked at her husband, who also had a concerned look on his face.

"Sweetheart, you're just a little nervous, and that's okay. Getting up on stage can be scary, but I know you can be a brave girl." She tried to reason with the kindergartener, but Sara could hear her choking on sobs on the other end.

"Nuh-uh. I don't wanna do it cause I'll mess up." Nick had already picked up the pace of the station wagon so they could get there faster. Now they were only a couple minutes away. Sara could tell Jordan was only getting more worked up.

"Jordan, baby, I need you to take some deep breaths. Can you do that for me?"

"Mommy I'm not as good at it as Marley. I can't do it." The girl said into the phone between deep gasps.

"Baby listen to me, take a deep breath." Sara was rubbing her temples. "I want you to do me a favor okay?"

"O-o-kay." the girl tried to agree through sobs.

"I want you to look your brother right in the eyes" Sara tried a different tactic to calm her daughter down. "Do you see him, do you see his eyes?"

"Y-yeah" the little girl replied into the phone, barely speaking.

"He's your older brother right?" Sara asked "He's there to protect you no matter what right?"

"Yeah." The little girl agreed.

"As long as he's there you're going to be just fine." Sara said. "Daddy and I are gonna pull in, in just a minute okay? So you don't have to worry anymore..."

Brandon wasn't quite sure why his sister was staring him right in the eye, but he didn't dare look away, because it seemed to be calming her for some reason. He gave her a wink for good measure as Jordan stayed on the line with their mother, just listening to the sound of her voice.

A minute or so later, Nick and Sara both hurried through the door of the room all the kids were in waiting. Jordan immediately ran for her parents when she saw them. Nick scooped her up in his arms and held her tightly to him as Sara put her arm around the little girl also.

"Mommy, I was so scared." She said a little tearfully, but she was much calmer now. However, there was still some amount of work to do before she felt confident enough to go out on stage.

"I know, baby, but Brandon helped you through, didn't he?" Sara reminded her softly, rubbing reassuring circles on her back. Jordan nodded her head, which was now resting on Nick's shoulder. Nick looked around for a chair to sit on and soon found one. He sat down with his daughter in his lap, pressing a loving kiss to her forehead.

"Baby, you're the best dancer in the class and you know you are." Nick said, and it was the truth. Contrary to the little girl's words to her mother a few minutes before, this was one area where Jordan out-shined her sister and just about every other kid her age.

"But Daddy what if I mess up?" The little girl asked through a few more sniffled tears.

"Well darlin' you're five. Nobody's gonna notice if you make a mistake" Nick said trying to make his little girl laugh, but he'd made a vital mistake. With Marley and the older boys humor was always the way to cheer them up, but Jordan was a whole different kind of kid.

"So nobody cares about my dancin?" The little girl asked through a few more sobs. "Then why do I do it?"

Sara opened her hand and allowed it make quick contact with the back of her husband's head "That is not what Daddy meant." She said to her baby girl.

"Then what did you mean, Daddy?" She asked him, playing with the collar of his button-up shirt. Jordan could tell he just took a shower, because his aftershave, or 'daddy smell', as she called it was readily apparent and readily comforting to her at the moment. All the unfamiliar faces, and the hustling around had frightened her. Nick cleared his throat and tried to think of a good answer.

"What I meant was, the audience knows you're just a beginning class, and it's okay to make mistakes. They don't expect you to be perfect." He tried to explain gently. The most entertaining and aw-inducing performance of a ballet recital in any dance company was the youngest group. The way the little girls tried so hard, and the fact that their bodies and skills weren't quite up to doing any real difficult dances, was utterly adorable. No matter what they did, the crowd would love it.

"But I wanna do it perfect." Jordan countered, thinking of all the extra practice she did at home in front of her mirror in hopes of impressing her ballet teacher and doing it completely perfectly. Sara smiled and ran her fingers over Jordan's hair.

"Jordan, nobody's perfect. Not even me or Daddy. You just have to try your best. And we'll be proud of you no matter what."

Jordan nodded and seemed calmed by this answer. Her parents often noticed she got caught up in wanting to do things perfectly. It took her a long time to start a task, because she wanted to think about how to do it just right. And when it didn't turn out just the way she wanted it to, she could get upset.

"Good girl." Nick whispered, and noticed several little girls from his daughters' class walking towards one of the classrooms to warm up. "Are you ready to put on your ballet shoes and warm up?" He asked gently, rubbing circles on her back, hoping to keep her calm. Jordan thought for a few moments and let out a contemplative sigh.

"I guess." Marley scurried over moments later and rested her upper body on Sara's legs. She smiled down at her daughter and patted her back.

"Mommy, is she okay yet?" Marley was used to her sister's emotional bouts.

"She'll be fine. Break a leg sweetie." Sara planted a kiss on the top of her little girl's head and then turned her around and gave her a gentle push towards the classroom doors.

"C'mon Jordan. We gotta go warm up." Marley said, grabbing her sister's hand and pulling her in the direction the other herd of little girls had gone only moments before.

Charlie, who had watched the whole display from afar, making bets with Noah about weather or not Jordan would go on, felt a momentary burst of guilt for trying to make a buck off of his sister's stage fright. He ran forward and grabbed Jordan's other little hand. She turned around to face him and he told her "you're the best one out there and you're going to do great.

"I promise, you'll be perfect." He didn't understand why his mom and Nick never tried to give her the confidence she needed.

"Thanks Charlie." Jordan beamed back up at him. Apparently this was all she needed to hear. She pulled away from him and allowed herself to be led into the warm-up room.

Nick put his arm around Sara's shoulders as they watched their two only little girls disappear into a circus of blue-green dressed ballerinas. The teacher, seeing everyone had arrived, instructed them to find their places in rows for warm-ups. The two parents watched their twins for a couple minutes, observing them posing their arms and pointing their toes as they warmed up. Marley would get tired of holding her arms up occasionally, and shake them out right in the middle of the exercise. However, Jordan was much more serious and professional about her dancing, and always had been.

"That one will be in point shoes in no time." Sara commented to her husband. Nick chuckled and kissed his wife's temple.

"She's definitely our little ballerina." Though both girls loved ballet now, it was obvious that Jordan was in it for the long-term. They turned around and saw Charlie counting up a wad of money in his hands, and Noah not looking too pleased. When Charlie saw his father give him a displeased look, he quickly shoved the bills into his back pocket.

"I would take that from you if you hadn't just saved the day with Jordan, there." He informed his stepson. Charlie just grinned as they all began walking to the auditorium to find seats.

Everyone in the youth ballet program knew the Stokes twins and their large family. Being that the twins were going to be active in the performance, and the ballet instructor knew that they had four children aside from the twins, there was a line of six seats saved three rows back and in the center of the orchestra section of the auditorium.

The lights flashed to give the audience a five minute warning and then dimmed off and a group of young girls began dancing out onto the stage, led by Jordan and Marley. The twins had been given the leading roles because of their determined ability and the fact that a general consensus said that it was adorable to have twins at the forefront of the ballet production.

An outwardly frightened Jordan ten minutes ago was magically transformed into a confident, smiling little ballerina on stage. Though they'd been told to concentrate on what they were doing, Jordan looked for her family and spotted them easily in the third row and waved excitedly. They chuckled a little and all waved back as the music began to play. They were only beginners, so most of the ballet moves consisted of moving their feet around minimally, prancing around stage, and a bit of skipping.

The whole audience had smiles on their faces, watching the six little girls try their hardest. Some small mistakes were made, but the performance couldn't have been more perfect. At the end, the girls took a bow, beaming with pride. Holding their arms out to the side daintily, they scurried across stage gracefully to be met by their very proud teacher. Once the audience had stopped clapping, Brandon leaned forward and looked at his parents.

"So, can we go now?" He didn't see much point in staying for the entire event when the twins had gone first.

"No. The girls want to watch the older kids." Sara told their oldest, and both of the other older boys groaned. Colin shifted in his spot on Nick's lap, where he had moved half way through the performance.

"I wanna see Marwey and Jordan again."

"Well kiddo," Nick said quietly in his ear. "The twins just finished up their show, but we gotta wait until the other girls go. Maybe they'll do it for you at home."

Nick was going to keep trying to calm Colin down when Sara grabbed his arm and gasped. In the middle of the twelve year old group's performance a child they both knew was from the nine year old group came tumbling onto the stage from one of the wings. It looked as though she'd been pushed out on the stage, and from where she'd fallen, right outside the wing, Sara's CSI brain told her that it was one of the smaller girls that had pushed the poor kid. The girl didn't try to save the mistake, she didn't improv or dance it off, she just shifted into a sitting position where she fell and started mouthing what looked to be obscenities at her attacker who still remained hidden off the stage. Two girls who were in the middle of performing managed to trip over the fallen dancer, and then finally another pair of arms, probably the teacher's pulled the girl back off of the stage and the performance continued.

"That better not have been one of our girls." Sara whispered to Nick, but both of them knew their kids and forensics well enough to know it was probably an offense caused by Marley. It didn't surprise either parent when the assistant teacher crouched down beside them, and whispered that she needed Sara to come with her.

Nick sighed and the two parents exchanged a concerned look. Sara got up by kept her lower body low so the rest of the crowd wouldn't be disturbed. She followed Ms. Thomas out to a lighted area outside the auditorium.

"Is there a problem?" Sara asked the teacher, who sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"I'm afraid Marley pushed a girl from one of the older classes backstage. She fell over, you may have seen, on the stage during the 12-year-olds' performance and they had quite a spat."

Sara felt worried that she wasn't at all surprised. All there was left to be shocked by would be why Marley had done it. Marley was famous for making brash decisions she hadn't taken time to think over.

"I am so sorry, Mrs. Thomas. She knows her father and I don't tolerate that kind of behavior." Mrs. Thomas nodded and motioned for her to follow.

"Thank you. I think it's best if Marley stays with you the rest of the evening." She informed Sara, which the mother didn't blame her for at all. They hurried back to one of the classrooms, where the head teacher for the five year old class had set Marley in time-out. Jordan was in there also, but was quietly coloring with a book one of the teachers had brought in case the girls got bored. Sara thanked Ms. Thomas once again, and stood outside the room in case Mrs. Stokes needed to talk to her further.

"Marley Nicole, what did you do now?" Sara said sternly, sitting down on a stack of gymnast mats that the older groups sometimes used to practice the more elaborate two person numbers.

"I pushed Jessica Williams down." Marley stated, she didn't attempt to lie or make excuses. This usually meant, from Sara's experience with her little girl, that she thought she was innocent.

"Mommy don't yell at her" It was Jordan's voice that piped up over her crayons.

"Jordan, I'm talking to your sister right now." Sara said sternly, "You know the rules, don't butt in."

"Butt Mommy." Jordan whined, "You're being mean for no reason."

"Jordan Elizabeth." Sara said sternly, and then decided that she shouldn't take out her frustrations on her daughters when she didn't know the whole story. "Look, I'm sorry. Tell me what happened guys."

Jordan got up and walked towards her mother, looking a bit teary-eyed. Sara thought this was odd since she wasn't the one in trouble.

"Mommy, this big girl was makin' fun of me cause I waved at you on stage, and so Marley stuck up for me. She kept calling me names, so Marley pushed her, but she was just tryin' to help, Mommy, I promise." Jordan rattled off. They both knew their parents were reasonable people, but were also fearful that Marley would be in trouble for pushing. Violence wasn't tolerated by their parents at all. Sara sighed and looked over at Marley, who was still sitting obediently in time out.

"Is that true, Marley?" She asked, her voice showing that they weren't quite out of the water. Marley nodded, her face displaying her worry.

"You and Daddy told us to stick up for ourselves, so I did. I had to push her cause she wouldn't be quiet."

"Yeah" Jordan added in. "She kept calling me a mama's girl and telling me I ruined the whole show. I told her she wasn't being very nice and she said she didn't care, at least she didn't ruin her show."

"So I pushed her down." Marley finished.

"What did Daddy and I tell you two about fighting?" Sara asked both of her children.

"To use our words." Jordan stated.

Then Marley shrugged her shoulders and added "And if that's not workin' go find an adult and ask them for help."

"That's right." Sara looked between both girls, a serious look on her face. Secretly, she was kind of proud and touched that Marley would stand up for her sister like that, though outwardly she could never say that of course. The girls had a special relationship with each other, unlike the relationships the boys had with each other. Though they had different friends and enjoyed different things, they always had each other's backs.

"I understand why you were upset, but pushing is not the way to fix things." She reminded both of them. They nodded and looked genuinely sorry.

"Sorry, Mommy." They both said almost simultaneously.

Sara nodded. "Alright. How about we get out of here and go find Daddy and your brothers?" Marley hopped off her chair and took her mother's hand as she stood up.

"So we're not in trouble?" She asked, slightly confused. Usually a lecture was followed with some sort of punishment. Sara led them out of the room and thanked Mrs. Thomas.

"No, but don't ever do that again. Understand?"

"We promise." again the girls answered in unison. Sara wondered if Nick had a bond like this with any of his siblings. He talked fondly of his older brother, Brian, and of his sisters Mary and Becky almost daily. The other girls, Julie, Teresa, and Elizabeth, were quite a bit older and Nick never spent much time with them, or so he told her.

They snuck back into the auditorium in time enough to watch the end of the final performance and though they sat down only briefly, Jordan taking the free seat that had been left for Colin, and Marley climbing into her mother's lap they didn't stay for very long. There was a resounding bout of applause and a standing ovation and the crowd slowly dissipated. Nick's arched eyebrow at Sara when they first returned was finally answered with a brief explanation. He told his daughters that though he didn't approve he wasn't mad at them either.

All of the kids, with the exception of Brandon, begged to go for ice cream on their way out. So it was decided that Sara would take the car Brandon had arrived in along with the three older boys, and Nick would take the station wagon and the three younger kids. They all agreed to meet a few minutes later at their favorite parlor.

The boys were naturally interested in what was a big enough deal for Sara to be called backstage, and hounded their mother about it in the car. She'd given them a brief explanation, but warned them not to bring it up, or it would encourage the girls if they got more attention for it. They all arrived at the parlor about ten minutes later and ordered their favorite desserts. It was already past eight, and past the younger three's normal bedtime, but they were as awake and lively as ever. Nick and Sara just hoped they'd be able to get Colin and the twins down without much hassle.

Once they'd found a table big enough to accommodate the eight-person family, they all piled in and began devouring their ice cream, talking amongst themselves. Marley wasn't always cuddly, but tonight she chose to climb into Nick's lap to eat her ice cream.

"Is your sundae good?" Nick asked his little girl as he worked a spoonful of his banana split onto the plastic wear.

"Uh-huh." She nodded, making sure she got lots of chocolate on her own spoon. "Daddy, do you ever push people?" Marley wondered curiously and looked up at her father for his answer.

"Well, baby, sometimes Daddy has to do that sort of thing to bad guys. I don't like to do it, but sometimes I have to."

Marley nodded. "That older girl was bad. I had to push her."

For the second time that night Nick's words to his child were interrupted by a squeeze on his arm from his wife. She was pointing at the front door to the ice cream shop where they saw Warrick and Catherine entering with their brood. Catherine and Warrick had two children together not long after Nick and his first wife had Brandon. Tonight they had their two teens and their seven year old granddaughter with them.

"Hey guys." Warrick called to the Stokes family, he was the first to spot them.

Sara, couldn't believe how much Samantha had grown since the last time she'd seen her. They rarely ever saw Lindsey's little girl since she'd moved to New York with her husband. "Is that Samantha, look at you? Wow, you're more beautiful every time I see you."

"Yeah, Lindsey and Dan are out for a few days, we told them we'd show Sammy a good time so they could spend some time together." Catherine told her long time friends.

"You guys have time to sit down and have a sundae with us?" Nick asked, gesturing to a table near theirs where they could easily sit and talk for a while.

"Nah man." Warrick said. "We promised Molly and Chandler we'd give them a ride to the movies after this, Molly has a date and Chandler's meeting his friends for some thing."

At fifteen and fourteen the Brown teens were already as eager to spend as little time with their parents and older sister's daughter as they possibly could.

They at least seemed somewhat excited to see the Stokes - Brandon and Noah in particular. Though they weren't best buddies, they had all hung out on numerous occasions, and their families had barbecues and get-togethers on a semi-frequent basis. The Browns moved to order their ice cream, and the kids came over to have a quick chat with the Stokes kids. Marley decided she was not going to be forgotten by Nick.

"Daddy, are you disappointed that I pushed that girl?" She asked as she pushed her now melting ice cream around in the little cup. Nick wasn't sure how to answer that, which was the case with many of Marley's questions.

"Well, I was disappointed you used violence instead of your words, but I'm very proud that you stuck up for your sister." Marley turned and beamed up at him.

"Sometimes Jordan gets scared I think. I wish she would stick up for herself sometimes." She told him honestly.

Nick kissed the top of her head. "She'll get there, sweetheart. You just worry about your own problems, and Mommy and I will help Jordan out, okay?"

Marley nodded and giggled at the fact Jordan had gotten out of her seat to show Molly Brown some of her ballet moves. Molly was doing a good job of pretending to be thoroughly fascinated by the kindergartener's skills.

The two families talked for a little while longer and in the midst of the conversation Marley had joined Jordan in playing with Sammy. Molly's attention to Jordan's little dance had wavered pretty quickly and now she was sitting at a table with her younger brother and Brandon discussing one thing or another. Before too long, while Warrick was talking to Nick and Sara, and Catherine was at the register paying, the three girls came running up.

"Can Sammy stay the night please?" Jordan begged her parents.

"Yeah Grampa can I?" Sammy begged from Warrick, knowing that calling him Grampa was the best way of getting anything out of him. It was the same when her mother called him Dad.

"I don't think so sweetie." Sara spoke softly, nobody was sure exactly which of the three girls she was calling sweetie, but it didn't really matter.

"Mommy please?" Marley and Jordan begged in unison.

"Mom said no, girls." Nick added sternly, it was obvious that the girls were getting pretty tired, but who could blame them? It was late and they'd had a big day.

"Please, we'll all be really good." The twins added again.

"Yeah, I'll be really good Grampa." Sammy said, adding a begging pull on her Grandfather's hand.

The family's cups had all been placed on the tray, ready to be thrown away. It was past nine o'clock, and the girls had had a very long and busy day, not to even mention poor little Colin, who had since fallen asleep on a couple of the chairs. The girls were always the last to admit they were tired, especially when they were cranky like they were about to get.

"Well, Jordan and Marley have had a very long day, haven't you?" Nick reminded everyone, tousling Jordan's hair. "It's already way past their bedtime."

That was not the answer the girls were hoping for. Sammy seemed to take it all with a grain of salt and accepted it, but the Stokes twins weren't very happy at all. Jordan moved her head so her father's hand couldn't sit on it, then took a few heavy steps to the nearest chair and let her upper body fall onto it dramatically, and she started to cry. Marley, encouraged by her sister's display, and hoping that when their parents saw how upset they were, would give in, tossed her spoon at the tray quite hard and crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a particularly ugly sound.

"Marley Nicole and Jordan Elizabeth that is enough right now." Sara said sternly, but it didn't do much good. Marley just sat down on the floor and started crying along with her sister.

"We said knock it off." Nick added in, "If you don't stop by the time I get to three you're both in a heap of trouble."

There was another outcry of the same ugly sound Marley had made but this time in stereo and Nick began counting "One."

"Daddy no." Jordan whined but Marley kept weeping, she wanted to call his bluff this time.

"Two." Nick said more sternly than he'd said one, by now Jordan was trying to calm herself down but Marley was still violently crying.

"Thr…" Nick didn't get to finish the word before Marley stopped crying. She had the ability to turn the water works on and off at will.

"Good." Sara added and picked Marley up in her arms. She hugged the girl a little and began carrying her towards the car. She turned to the boys as she stood in the door and said, "I think it's time we went home, guys."

Nick had since picked Jordan up into his arms, who buried her face in the crook of his neck. She wouldn't admit it, but she was very tired, and Nick was sure she'd fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"Brandon, will you carry Colin for me please?" He requested of his oldest. The teenager sighed but picked up the little tyke. Charlie was looking pretty tired also, but was trying to hide it so his brothers wouldn't make fun of him. They all said goodbye to the Browns and Nick promised that another time Sammy could stay over. The youngest three Stokes were loaded into the car and buckled in, their eyes failing them by drooping, and their mouths yawning. Both girls were still in their ballet uniforms - matching cranky twins. Nick started up the car moments later and made sure everyone was buckled in.

"Dad, can you drop me off at Chris's house?" Brandon requested from the back seat. He'd had about enough of his huge family and his little sisters throwing tantrums in public.

"We need to get the younger three home, Brandon." Nick's voice sounded weary and tired.

The teen was leaning in the driver's side window of the car, and gave a sigh. Noah and Charlie were standing near Sara and the other car. Usually Brandon preferred to ride with his father, so it had been assumed he'd fill the passenger's seat. Sara however, had a different plan she rubbed her son's shoulder blades and said, "Charlie baby you look tired, why don't you go ride with Nick?"

After Sara had instructed her son to fill the empty seat in Nick's car she called loudly, "Brand I'll give you a ride over there if you want."

"Really? Thanks Sara" He gave his dad a smile and ran over to the car Sara was driving and climbed into the passenger's seat. Noah was riding with them because even though he was only two years older than Charlie he had a lot more stamina and Sara didn't feel as bad keeping him out late as she would have Charlie.

Charlie got into the front seat with Nick and the three little ones to go straight home. Nick turned to back out of his parking space, and took a quick peek at the girls to see how they were doing. Jordan now had her thumb in her mouth, a pre-bedtime ritual of hers. Marley was wiping at her eyes and still whimpering slightly.

"They are definitely tired." Charlie commented to his stepfather. As an older kid, he was beginning to understand why parents sometimes said no to kids' requests. He was very glad Nick and his mom didn't let the twins get away with their tantrums.

"Yeah. Usually they conk out by eight thirty or so. The sugar kept them up for a while, but I'm not surprised they took a nosedive." He told Charlie quietly as he pulled out of the parking lot. However, Marley had overheard.

"I'm not tired." She told her father stubbornly.

"Close your eyes, Mar." Nick told his young daughter, not willing to get into another battle of wills with her. Marley grumbled and made special effort to keep her eyes open, though it was very hard. By the time they'd arrived in the driveway, Jordan had fallen asleep, and Marley was fighting to keep her eyelids from closing. Nick turned in his seat to assess the situation and smirked.

"Charlie, you think you can handle carrying Colin in?" Nick asked as they both unbuckled.

"Yeah, Nick. I can do it."

"Thanks, bud." Nick opened one of the doors and gently unbuckled Jordan. He picked her up without disturbing her and then walked around to Marley's side, who was barely awake. "Mar, come take my hand and I'll walk you upstairs."

Charlie unbuckled Colin from his car seat and followed his step father and two sisters into the house. He secretly loved it when his parents asked him to take care of Colin. He was pretty sure Nick knew this too, because Nick was always a lot more willing to let him get the littler boy than his mother would have been.

By the time Nick had taken the girls to their room and talked them into putting on their pj's with a promise that they'd get a bedtime story as soon as he was back from tucking Colin in, Charlie had already begun changing him, diaper and all. Nick just looked into the toddler's bedroom door and watched his stepson proudly for a little while. After a moment he decided to let Charley handle this one for the night, and went back to the twin's room.

"Girls I'll pick out a story, you two go brush your teeth." They were both too tired to protest.

Nick walked down the hall and leaned into Colin's room one last time, he watched as Charlie laid his little brother down gently in his bed and tucked him in, then with a kiss to his brother's forehead he turned and looked Nick in the eye.

"Hey I'm going to read your sisters a story, wanna come in and listen?" Nick asked.

"Thanks Nick, but I think I'm just gonna go get ready for bed."

Nick nodded. "Suit yourself. Thanks for helping with Colin. You're very good with him." Charlie smiled sheepishly, beaming inwardly at Nick's compliment.

"Thanks." Nick gave him a smile and then disappeared to the bathroom, where the girls were slowly brushing their teeth. Jordan was so tired that her brush was barely making contact with her teeth, and she was doing the head bob. Nick gently took her toothbrush from her hand and filled up her little Dixie cup with water.

"Rinse your mouth, baby, and hop into bed." He instructed her softly. Jordan nodded and yawned, and had soon disappeared. Marley soon finished and requested to be picked up. Nick tugged her up by her arms and hitched her up, then headed towards their bedroom.

"Daddy, can we get a kitty cat?" Marley asked randomly as he carried her. Nick furrowed his eyebrows as he laid her down gently on her bed, which matched her sister's.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow, sweetheart."

Nick only got about four pages into the story he was reading the girls before they were both out. He kissed each forehead gently and crept back out of the room, clicking the lights off. He check on Colin one last time before turning his light off and nightlight on and he walked down the stairs to the living room. He was still thinking about Brandon's request for another bedroom and the only thing he could think was that maybe it was time to buy a bigger house. He sighed and sat down on the couch and clicked on the tv. Perhaps in the next few days he'd have to discuss the idea of moving with Sara. They did live in her house after all. He didn't have much time to think about it, though, before he heard Sara and Noah coming into the house.

"Hey Dad." Noah called to his father as he came into the house "Did Charlie go to bed?"

"Yeah bud." Nick sat up a bit."Why?"

"Can I watch tv then? I don't wanna wake him up and I'm not really that tired." Noah liked feeling like one of the oldest and though Nick knew his son would be asleep on the couch in the next hour or hour and a half he nodded and passed his son the remote.

Sara had gone into the kitchen to get herself a cup of water before heading up to the bedroom she and Nick shared for some quiet reading. Nick decided to join her in the kitchen, coming up behind her at the sink, places his hands on her hips as she took a big sip of her water. She swallowed and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Are the girls asleep?" She asked, hoping the two balls of energy were down for the night. Nick dropped a kiss to her shoulder, letting Sara's scent surround him.

"Yeah. Jordan was so tired she almost fell asleep brushing her teeth." Sara let out a little chuckle as she set her glass down and turned in his arms. Her smile mirrored his as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Well, tantrums are usually a pretty good indicator they're in need of some rest." She pointed out. Nick nodded and then captured Sara's lips with his own in a sweet, tender kiss. After several moments of lip locking, Nick pulled back and kissed her forehead.

"Did you give Brandon a curfew?" Sara nodded.

"Midnight." She turned and picked up her glass again. "I, for one, will not be waiting up to make sure he's home on time. I told him to wake you up when he got in."

Nick laughed and tickled her side. "How considerate of you."

Sara batted his hand away and then took his hand in hers as they began walking towards the stairs.

"Noah, we're going to bed. Don't stay up too much later." Nick told his son. Noah agreed, and the two parents went upstairs to the haven of their bedroom for some rare alone time. Soon, they were both in bed, facing each other under the covers. Their eyelids were droopy after another long day, taking care of their six mutual children.

"Baby, you look exhausted." Nick commented, gently stroking his wife's dark brown locks, which all three of their children had inherited. Sara sighed heavily and nodded her head.

"That's because I am." She deadpanned, the lulling effect Nick's hand was having on her threatening to send her into dreamland.

Nick chuckled and leaned forward, kissing her gently. Though she never thought she would be, Sara really was a wonderful mother to their children, and his children. "You've been chasing kids all day again."

"Mmmhmmm." She said tiredly, letting her eyelids close. Nick's hand gently guided her onto her stomach, and he began to rub his warm hand over her back in comfort. "The little kids wear me out. Especially Marley."

Another chuckle from Nick as he continued stroking her back. "Well, that goes without saying."

Sara giggled slightly. "Yeah. But I love it. And I love you."

Nick could tell she was barely hanging on to the land of the living, so he pressed a kiss to her temple and snuggled up a little closer to her after turning off the lamp on the bedside table. "I know. I love you too."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: So glad you're enjoying what we have so far! Our chapters are averaging about 20 pages, single-spaced, so it's been taking a while to update! Thanks for being patient! This chapter mostly focuses on Charlie. If anyone has any cool ideas for chapters, do let us know. We are open to suggestions. : ) We plan on doing 3 more chapters in this time period, then we'll move on to a few years later. Without further ado…enjoy! (and review!)_

Charlie sat in the last class of his always long day at Las Vegas Elementary School one Thursday afternoon. Fifth grade was much more demanding than fourth. He got way too much homework now, usually a couple hours a night. His older brother Noah didn't even get as much homework as he did, and he was in middle school. However, Charlie was in the accelerated program at his school, having inherited his mother's smarts and hard work ethic. He enjoyed school most of the time, but had been feeling bogged down lately.

The last class of the day was art, which they had to change classrooms for. Charlie wordlessly followed the rest of his class down the hallway in a straight line to the last classroom on the right, which always smelled at least faintly of paint and crayons. As they all filed in, they could see they had a substitute today, so some of the other kids started chattering and snickering more, hoping they could get away with some mild mischief. Charlie wasn't in the mood to care, and just plopped down on one of the stools near the back of the classroom. The substitute smiled as the students all took their seats, waiting with his hands clasped in front of him.

"Good afternoon, class. My name is Mr. Walters, and I'll be subbing for Miss Sweeney today. The first thing I need to do is take attendance, so please say present when I call your name."

The man was walking towards the front of the room from the back and as he passed the table that Charlie was perched behind in the second to last row, he stopped a and offered a smile of greeting. The other students filled the room with the chatter and clatter of their ten year old conversations as soon as they realized the man was distracted.

"Hey, you're uh... Charlie right?" The forty something year old teacher asked with a finger prodding gently into Charlie's shoulder.

Charlie merely nodded. He thought he recognized the man as an old friend of his step-father's, but he didn't care much to be friendly. He hadn't been in much of a talking mood lately, and Jennifer Perry–the girl he usually talked to during art was absent, so he'd already decided that it would be a quiet forty five minutes.

"You're Nick Stokes' boy right?" Somehow the friendly weathered face of Mr. Walters seemed to redden, or maybe Charlie was just seeing the world through the deep readiness of anger that always seemed to well when people said that.

Charlie pointed to the attendance sheet in the man's hand, at his name, and said "I'm his stepson. My name is Charlie Berman, not Charlie Stokes."

The man looked bewildered for a few moments and then finally came in with "Well, I've met your brothers... I've taught both of them too. They're Stokes'."

"They're my stepbrothers." Charlie quickly told him. He wasn't in a very good mood, and for some reason it was bothering him that this man was acting like he knew everything about his family when he didn't. Nick was a great guy, but he was not his father. And Brandon and Noah were not his brothers. He was Charlie Berman, son of Charles Berman, and always would be.

The sub sensed Charlie wasn't into having this conversation so he nodded and patted his shoulder. "Tell your step dad I say hey."

He walked up towards the front of the classroom to begin the class, leaving Charlie a bit red-faced in embarrassment. Unlike his stepbrothers, he really didn't like to be the center of attention, especially when he wasn't having that great of a day. All Charlie wanted was to get through this class, go home and collapse on his bed and sleep all afternoon, only he had tons of homework yet again to do.

The rest of the day passed slowly, consisting mostly of Charlie hoping that the sub would stay away from him and not ask any more questions about his family. Being reminded that he didn't have his real family – his dad, his mom, and himself – was depressing, and he wanted to wash it out of his mind.

It wasn't that he didn't love his stepfather and stepbrothers, and they were his family, but they weren't at the same time. Brandon and Noah still spent two weeks every summer out in Maryland with their mother, Nick still didn't have the same blood type as him, and he still had his real father's eyes. He knew that though his family was hectic and that he had more siblings than most of the other kids in his grade, it had a certain charm to him, but he wasn't ever going to stop wondering. The truth was he was not a Stokes.

Sometimes he felt like his own identity was washed away in the big picture. He had five brothers and sisters that were all Stokes kids, even his mother went by Sara B. Stokes. She'd kept his father's last name as part of her name in memory of him, but even she had moved on to the new name. So, he felt like the only person in his family that had an identity different from anyone else, and his was different from everyone else's. Nick offered, every year around his birthday, to adopt him officially and make him his son. They could change his name and everything, but every year he'd said that he wanted to stay Berman. Couldn't the world take a hint? He was trying to hold on to his father's memory... and that was hard for him.

Yes, he had his father's eyes, he made the same faces as his father when he was angry, but he only knew this because his mother had told him so. The truth was, he couldn't remember his dad. There was a certain aftershave that would make him think of this one time at a park, a foggy figure of a man and his mother were with him, and they were laughing. That was the best he had though, and it just wasn't enough in a world where everyone else was trying to make him forget his father too.

With all these thoughts clouding his mind, bothering him, he managed to load his backpack up at the end of the day with all the textbooks he would need to do his homework. Around him, all his classmates were talking and joking around as they packed up, reminding Charlie again of how different he felt from all of them. They must all know their place in the world, and know exactly who their family was. Why did he seem to be the only one so confused with his identity? With a heavy heart, Charlie allowed his feet to drag him down the hallway, out to the pick up circle, where his mother was waiting with the family mini-van. Colin and the twins were already inside waiting. Marley had taken the front seat, but Charlie didn't particularly care today. Sitting in the back might save him from questions.

"Hey, Charlie." Sara greeted him kindly from the driver's seat as he pulled the sliding door shut behind him. Charlie plopped himself down in the back row of seats as he told his mother hello. "How was your day?"

"Fine." He answered dismissively, looking out the window at all the kids walking home with groups of friends, hanging on each other and horsing around. Luckily, the twins seemed to be quite talkative about their days, so Sara was occupied in having conversations with them. The girls were in the same kindergarten classroom, so both were always eager to share the exciting things that had happened before her sister got a chance.

"Mrs. Green said I was a good listener." Jordan boasted modestly.

"That's wonderful sweetheart," he heard his mother tell the younger child sitting in the row of seats in front of him. It was the last thing he paid attention to the whole car ride home. He chose to spend the ride working on his math assignment. At least he could finish one subject before he steeped into the land of lollipops and rainbows, where the girls seemed to demand all of the family's attention.

As soon as they pulled into the driveway, he had his seatbelt off and was clicking the door open, even before his sister had clicked her belt off. If he'd been picked up by Nick he would have stopped to take Colin out of the baby seat he was in and carry him inside, but his mother didn't like him doing that. She was always afraid he'd hurt him. So, he just hurried into the house as fast as he could without being bombarded with a bunch of questions about his day.

He would have forty minutes to himself in his room before his brothers would get home and then in another twenty minutes he'd have to leave the house for his karate lesson. Then, the rest of the night he'd either spend up stairs enduring the hustle and bustle of his family, or he could try to escape to the recesses of his basement room, but surely someone would bug him.

He decided to do the only thing he could think of to get out of an evening with the whole brood. He walked into the down stairs bathroom and turned on the blow dryer that his mother kept down there, just in case she couldn't get into one of the other bathrooms when she needed to leave for an emergency shift. He turned the blow dryer on high and pointed it at his face, taking special care to make his eyes water. Once his face was hot and a deep shade of red, he pulled a penny out of his pocket and tucked it into the side of his cheek. He was going to tell his mother he wasn't feeling well so he could stay in his room, undisturbed, for the rest of the night. Faking sickness always ended better for him than doing something to get grounded.

His mother hadn't gotten a good look at his face when he'd climbed into the minivan earlier, so hopefully that would increase his chances of her believing him. If he'd looked fine minutes before, and suddenly he was red-faced and teary-eyed with a fever, she might be suspicious. His mother was a trained observer, but Charlie was counting on the chaos that having six children created.

Charlie climbed back up the stairs to find his mother in the kitchen, fixing snacks for the four children who were home. Colin and the twins were all plopped in front of the television watching the Disney channel, their eyes practically glued to the screen.

"Girls, take one big scoot back, or you're gonna ruin your eyes." Sara called to the twins as Charlie approached her, and they both obeyed. She briefly looked at him and went back to cutting up more cheese cubes, but when her son's red-stricken face registered in her mind, she quickly turned her attention back to Charlie. "Oh my God, Charlie. You look awful."

"I don't feel so great." He told her, trying his best to sound sickly. Sara put her hand to his forehead and felt that he was burning up.

"Let me take your temperature." Sara told him, and fished out the thermometer from the little medicine drawer they kept in the kitchen. Soon, the device was popped into Charlie's mouth, and he used his tongue to position the sensor over the penny. He'd learned the trick from a friend at school, who told him that the penny had some kind of reaction with the thermometer, and made the reading go up.

After reading the thermometer his mother told him that he shouldn't go to karate that day and to go down to his room and try to take a nap before his brothers got home. She filled him up a glass of water and told him that this time she'd let him drink down stairs, something she only ever did when one of the kids was really sick. Usually there was a no food or drink anywhere but the kitchen rule.

He took the drink and headed back down stairs, though he had no intention of taking a nap. He'd wait until his brothers were home and everyone was entirely too busy to notice him, and he'd sneak into the attic and get the old box of pictures. Until then, he chose to while away his time with some homework. Before long, Marley appeared in the door to his room, crossed her arms and said "I saw you get in the car, you weren't sick then."

"Not now Marley," he groaned at her and closed the science book he was answering questions out of. "I just, didn't feel like going to karate. Don't tell mom."

"You hafta owe me," her little face all wrinkled up in the look she tried to make appear sinister.

"I'm gonna tell mom you're bugging me," he threatened his little sister. "And you're already grounded for what you did last week."

A perfect pout formed on Marley's face, her arms crossed over her tiny frame. They both knew it wasn't wise to be caught misbehaving when they were already being punished for something else.

"Fine." She grumbled, not liking that Charlie had apparently won. "But next time you want something from me, the answer's NO." Marley turned dramatically and made her way back up the stairs, leaving Charlie in peace once again. He'd been an only child up until about the age of four, so adjusting to having this many siblings had been difficult. It was hard not having any privacy. There was always someone butting into your life, or coming into your room when you just wanted to be alone.

Charlie was alone again for another twenty minutes before his two older stepbrothers came home. He could tell by the noise they always seemed to make, and could hear his mother telling them to keep their voices down, and only go downstairs if they needed to. However, they couldn't exactly be expected to stay out of their own bedroom for the entire afternoon. Soon enough, Brandon appeared to deposit his own backpack and get his football gear together for practice.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked his roommate as he opened his decidedly smelly gym bag to pack his workout gear.

"Nothin," he said with, not even really bothering to look up at the teen. He knew the older kid well enough to know that he couldn't say much or the boy would pry it out of him, with force if necessary. Despite the fact that he didn't like to admit it, Brandon was a great talker and not a half bad listener. The problem was that he had absolutely not desire to talk to him. What had him down was the fact that he didn't feel like he had a real family, so essentially if he tried to talk to his step brother about it, he'd end up hurting his feelings.

"Whatever man." Brandon told him, flipping the last sock into the bag in his hand and walking towards the door, "I'll be home in a couple of hours." It was the closest the brothers ever came to telling each other that if they needed to talk, they were here.

"Yeah, bye." He didn't wave or look up from his homework. He didn't really even acknowledge his brother had really been there. He knew he was kinda acting like a jerk, but he wasn't really feeling like being the sweet little boy people usually saw.

Not soon after, Noah made a similar entrance, and looked suspiciously at his stepbrother. Both of the older Stokes boys were athletic and sociable like their father, and had trouble understanding Charlie sometimes. He was the most withdrawn of all the boys, and preferred less head-on competition. Charlie didn't like the bombardment of team sports, but more solitary sports like karate. He was a quiet, thoughtful kid; one that valued his own personal time.

"Marley said you're not really sick." Was the first thing Noah said, before biting off another piece of the graham cracker he'd been snacking on. Charlie groaned and let his head fall back against his headboard. Their little sister had such a big mouth.

"Well, Marley likes to convince people that her teddy bears talk to her," he pointed out. Marley wasn't always the most reliable source.

Noah chuckled a little as he got out a notebook from his desk drawer and then closed it afterwards. "She said you admitted it to her."

"So what?"

"So…I thought you liked going to karate. Are you upset about something?"

"I just had a bad day okay?" he said, a bit more aggressively than he really meant to. "And I don't feel like being part of the Brady Bunch for once. So just drop it."

Noah was taken aback, usually Charlie had a quiet demeanor but he did inherit his mother's temper, so there wasn't much point in trying to press the issue any further. Noah, who had just come home from baseball practice, grabbed a change of clothes and headed out of the room to the shower.

The solace didn't last for long though, because as Noah came back into the room from his shower, an equally wet Brandon followed him in. He announced something about there being a storm and the practice being cancelled. So Charlie's determination to have some down time had been consistently interrupted, and now completely shattered.

"So, now that we're both in here for the night, are you going to tell us what's up?" Brandon asked, "Or are we going to have to deal with you bitching and moaning like a chick on PMS all night?"

Charlie was practically seething with annoyance now that both his stepbrothers were on his case again after he'd told them both not to bother him. Frankly, he hated big families, and he hated having two older brothers. It was all too much for Charlie just then, so he angrily stood up from his bed, knocking his textbooks to the floor in the process.

"Why the hell can't anyone stay out of other people's business in this family?!" He exclaimed, feeling his own blood boiling. "All I want is a freakin' afternoon to myself, and you jackasses can't get it through your thick jock heads to shut the hell up!"

With that, Charlie stormed out of their bedroom and up the stairs, too angry to even wonder if his mother had overheard his use of profanity. Maybe if anyone in this family had respect for personal space, he wouldn't have been driven to it. He reached the living room, which connected to the kitchen and found his mother. Colin was sitting up on the counter crying, as Sara was trying to hold him still to wipe some sort of gunk off his face. As Charlie got closer, he realized it was a variety of lipstick and eyeshadow. The twins must have gotten a hold of him. Sara seemed a bit flustered, slightly angry, and slightly amused all at the same time. Charlie hated to bother her, but if he didn't get some privacy he was going to tear his hair out.

"Mom, can I please go lay down in your room? Brandon and Noah won't leave me alone."

"You're still not feeling well babe?" She asked him gently. She reached out to feel his forehead, which had long ago cooled down. Thankfully Colin made a lunge to get away from her and she hand to jump to catch him before he fell off of the counter. Sara didn't have the free hands to pay him any more attention, so she very busily said "Sure honey. Dad's up there showering, but he won't bug you when he gets out."

"Nick," he retorted a correction under his breath.

"What was that?" His mother asked, clearly lost as to what he was talking about, and why.

Wasn't it obvious? Charlie didn't understand how his mother could just refer to Nick as his father without even thinking about it now.

"Nick is not my dad." He gritted through his teeth, and before Sara had a chance to talk to him any further, he had disappeared up the stairs. Sara furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not knowing where that had really come from. She referred to Nick as 'dad' most of the time by reflex now, because to five of the six children in the house, he was their biological father. Sometimes she forgot how emotional and sensitive Charlie could be. Perhaps the fact he was sick also had something to do with it.

Sara managed to wipe the remaining lipstick and eyeshadow from her youngest child's face, though he still had a frown on afterwards. Bored by having to stay indoors on this rainy day, the twins had decided playing with their mother's make up without permission would be entertaining. Sara had tried her best not to laugh at the sight of the girls and their younger brother looking like clowns. She'd made the girls wash and scrub their faces, and sent them to their room until dinnertime.

"There. All better." Sara announced to Colin, who didn't seem that comforted.

"I don't wike Marwey and Jordan." He told his mother. Sometimes, Sara admitted, they did treat him like a doll instead of a little brother. When he was a baby, they'd loved to help dress him and give him his bottles. As Colin got older, that had translated into using him as their personal plaything.

Sara heard the sounds of the shower upstairs shut off, and was bewildered as to what must be going on up there. Was Nick trying to have a conversation with Charlie, would Charlie say something so hurtful directly to Nick's face? Being accused of not being Charlie's father would surely hurt Nick's feelings a great deal, but as concerned as she was about him she couldn't help what was up with her son. She decided, though, that as long as he didn't bring it up again she wouldn't press the issue tonight. Perhaps in a few days, when he wasn't going to be quite as angry as he seemed to be today, she'd take him out to dinner, just the two of them, and they could talk the issue over.

"Mommy," the two year old she was still holding on the counter said accusingly. "Can I go pway now?"

"Yeah, sure sweetie, I'm sorry," she pulled her son off of the counter quickly and spun him in the air, pulling his cheek down close to hers for just a moment to plant a sloppy, wet, kiss on it before she set him on the floor. She secretly wished that he'd stay two years old forever.

Colin wiped his cheek clean of his mother's kiss and scurried off, making Sara laugh. Since the girls were in their room, he had the whole living room to himself and she wasn't surprised that he dumped out his tub of large-sized Legos onto the carpet, big enough so that if he stuck them in his mouth, he wouldn't swallow one and choke.

Sara went back to preparing dinner, enjoying a rare afternoon of relative peace now. The oldest boys must be studying downstairs, Charlie was most likely sleeping upstairs, the girls were in their room, and Colin was playing quietly. She sighed in content and heard one of the upstairs doors open and close. Moments later, Nick appeared at the bottom of the stairs, now fresh and clean, dressed in a pair of jeans that always hugged his ass just right, and a comfortable old t-shirt. He'd come home particularly grimy today, so he'd basically gone straight upstairs to shower without sharing much more than a hello and a kiss with his wife. Nick walked up behind Sara and wrapped his arms around her, pressing a sweet kiss to her cheek.

"How are you, babe?" He drawled out, looking down at what she was preparing for dinner.

"Not bad." She told him, cutting a raw carrot into small pieces for the casserole she planned to make.

"It's quiet." The comment caused Sara to chuckle, because it was obvious this was just as surprising to him as it was to her.

"Yeah," said as she finished laughing and let out a deep breath. "Charlie's not feeling well and I think he's got pretty much everyone in the house afraid to talk to him right now. He even has Noah and Brandon scared to come up out of their room, it seems."

Nick laughed a little at the thought of little Charlie, as small in stature as he was, having the ability to turn the whole house into the quietness that it was at the moment. "If he's sick, I hope the other kids aren't coming down with it too. The weather has been pretty screwy lately."

Sara stepped out of her husband's grasp and opened the refrigerator door where she two pounds of hamburger meat and passed them to her husband, taking a box of tofu out for herself. They were going to have home made lasagna but since Sara and Charlie were the only two vegetarians in the house, they always had to make two batches. Though she was starting to prepare dinner, she didn't miss a beat in the conversation. "Yeah, it would be tough. We haven't had all six of them sick at the same time since Colin came home from the hospital with that cold."

"That was almost three years ago," Nick said aloud, a little remorseful that his youngest was growing up so fast. "Is Colin really going on three already?"

"Two more months," Sara said, with a smile to her husband. Neither one of them was really ready for their youngest to be getting so old, already. It felt like just yesterday when they were bringing the twins home, and they both knew that in the blink of an eye Colin would be off at kindergarten.

Upstairs, a bedroom door opened up very quietly, and both could just imagine Marley poking her head out to see if the coast was clear. They both waited to see if she was going to say something before ordering her back inside.

"Momma, can we come out yet?" The five year old asked forlornly, already bored out of her mind after a mere half hour in her bedroom. It was hard for Marley to sit around and do nothing for long. Nick and Sara both shook their heads at each other.

"Absolutely not. Get back on your bed." Sara told her daughter. They heard a grumble and she closed the door loudly behind her. Nick had been into their room a few minutes before to say hello, and was surprised to see them both laying on their beds. It was their rule that if they got sent to their room, they spent their time sitting on their bed thinking about what they'd done wrong.

Nick chuckled, leaning back against the counter now as Sara continued with the food. "What did they do anyway? All I got out of Jordan was that they'd gotten into your make up."

Sara sighed and had to chuckle a little at the state the girls and Colin had been in not long ago. "They took out about five shades of my lipstick in a dozen eyeshadows and basically painted all over their faces, and all over Colin."

"Man, and we've told 'em not to go playin' in it a hundred times..." Nick said, unsure of how angry Sara was about it, and decided to take the safe route and pretend to be miffed.

Sara, however, wiped her hands clean and picked up the digital camera that sat on the counter next to where she was working. "Yeah but babe," She said, flipping through the pictures before she passed the camera to her husband. "It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time."

Both parents knew, of course, that they could never tell any of the three children involved how hilarious it was, but that didn't mean that they couldn't enjoy the photographic evidence between them. Brandon walked into the room at the same time that Nick seemed to lose control of his laughter and move a little closer to his father and step mother. "What's so funny?"

Sara leaned out of the way so that Brandon could fill the space she'd just been occupying, looking over Nick's shoulder. "Look what the twins did to your little brother while you were at football."

The teenager let out an amused snort, looking at the pictures over his father's shoulder. The girls had drawn all over their faces so much he could barely see any plain skin. And poor Colin, though he looked quite distraught in his photos, was quite the Picasso masterpiece in his opinion.

"So artistic." He commented and then walked to the fridge to get himself a Gatorade. "Did you ever figure out what's up Charlie's ass?"

Sara took the camera from her husband now that he was done and pressed the off button, planning to show the pictures to all her coworkers tomorrow. "I don't know. He seems pretty down, so I'm just gonna leave it for now." She told Brandon. She did know more, which she planned to share with Nick shortly, but Brandon didn't need to know all the details.

Brandon nodded after taking a sip of the cool orange liquid. "I don't know if I should tell you this, but we're pretty sure he was faking sick." He informed his parents of what he'd heard through the grapevine.

That didn't surprise Sara at all, really. She'd suspected something was going on when Charlie had come upstairs a few minutes before showing no signs of the reddened, feverish face from earlier. It didn't really anger her that he'd faked it; Sara just wanted to know what was bothering him so much he'd wanted to just curl up in his bed.

"Alright babe, I figured as much. Thanks for letting me know though," she ran an open hand down the teen's and gave him an appreciative smile. "Just, uh, do me a favor and leave him alone for a while."

"No problem. I'll go down stairs and play cards or something with Noah, keep out of his hair for a while. Want me to take Colin with me?" Brandon asked. He was a good, kind, friendly, and helpful kid for the most part. From time to time he'd pummel his brothers for one reason or another, but that was just how boys did things.

"He's upstairs sleeping in hour room for the moment, bud," Nick added in, "So you're free to roam the house at will for a while, but if he gets up again and is still feeling down, I'd appreciate it if you'd try to keep the others off his back for a while."

"Okay." Brandon poured the rest of the Gatorade down his throat and passed the bottle to his father, who was standing between him and the trash can and then turned left, presumably to go back down the stairs.

Nick sighed and opened the cabinet that held the trash can, dropping the bottle into it. Sara walked up to her husband and draped her arms lowly around his waist as they both just looked each other for a moment, wondering just what to think about Charlie. Nick mirrored Sara's stance and they both sighed again.

"You know, Charlie said something interesting to me earlier." She began, thinking of their exchange in the kitchen.

"Yeah? What's that?" He asked her quietly.

"I just told him you were upstairs in the shower. I said 'your dad' and he corrected me. He insisted that to him, you were Nick, and you weren't his father."

Nick nodded and crinkled his eyebrows in thought. He wasn't at all offended, because blended families were a tricky thing when it came to titles and feelings. "Hmmm. You think that's what has him upset?"

"Well, not just that. Something or someone must have set him off at school about it. I know he's heard me call you dad before, and he's never voiced any sort of disagreement." Sara reasoned.

"Yeah. Well, I could talk to him if you'd like. Maybe he's confused about what our relationship is."

"No, I think it's better if I do. He might not be as comfortable talking to you about his feelings towards his father."

Before Nick could respond, they heard a high-pitched screech coming from upstairs, heavy footsteps, and then a door flying open. "Mommyyyy!!" They heard Jordan yell. "Marley won't leave me alone!"

"Well you helped her get into the makeup and she didn't force you, so you have to stay in time out." Sara called up the stairs, "but if she's really bugging you, you can take your sleeping bag and go lay down in Colin's room."

There was a little more protest before Sara asked Nick if he could please finish up with dinner so that she could go up stairs and solve the quibble between Marley and Jordan, and then have a little chat with Charlie. She kissed her husband deeply on the mouth, one of those kisses that said to him 'if we weren't in a house full of screaming kids right now, I'd be all over you.' Then, after kissing him once more, equally as deeply, she pulled away and went to her children.

After tending to the feud between Marley and Jordan, by physically moving Jordan into Colin's bedroom for the remainder of the punishment, she slipped into her own bedroom where she found Charlie, out like a light, curled up on her bed. She missed when he was little, and she could watch him sleep with this angelic looking smile on his face, but in the last few years it had turned into an angry looking scowl.

She didn't really know how to go about approaching her child. He was so much easier when he was four of fife. She finally decided to just lie down on the bed beside him, and started running her fingers through his hair gently. She wasn't trying to wake him up, yet, she just wanted to touch her baby.

Charlie continued to sleep for a few more moments, but soon the gentle touch of his mother roused him, and his eyes fluttered open to see her lying next to him. "Hey, baby." She whispered.

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and then began to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He felt slightly better after taking a nap, but he still had that feeling inside of not being happy. It was in his gut, and that was the hardest kind of feeling to shake. "Hey."

"How are you feeling?" She asked, rubbing circles over his back, hoping to offer him some level of comfort.

The boy coughed, remembering that he was supposed to be looking sickly. "Uh…a little better."

Sara reached out and felt his forehead again, and it was cool to the touch. "You know, Charlie. If something's bothering you, you can always come talk to me. You know that, right?"

A heavy sigh left the boy's body as he buried his face in his pillow momentarily in frustration. Where could he even begin? And even if he felt like sharing his feelings with his mother, she always seemed so busy and occupied with something else, trying to raise six children.

"You're too busy mom. I can't talk to you." He wasn't trying to be mean, just truthful, and his bad mood might have made the tone come out a little more hurtful than he'd intended, but he didn't care much.

"Right now, you're the only one I want to pay attention to," Sara told her son, still rubbing his back gently. "I know you're mad at me for saying Nick was your dad, or that you're mad at Nick, or somebody about Nick. Baby, why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Nick's not my dad, that's what happened," Charlie said roughly, pulling a little further away from his mom, but turning over so he was facing her. "Nobody gets it. He's not my dad. He's my step dad."

The look of hurt and frustration in her son's eyes broke Sara's heart. It was hard for him, she knew, not having his biological father. Sometimes Sara forgot how hard it must be for him. While she'd always miss Charlie's father, she had basically moved on and had a new husband. Not that Charles was replaceable, but it was widely accepted that widows went out and married again. With fathers it was different. There was never really anyone like your real father, and Sara had lost sight of that.

"Did something happen at school today?" Sara guessed, remembering that he'd seemed fine that morning when she'd dropped him off at school.

"Maybe." Charlie mumbled, not sure if he wanted to talk about it, because he knew he'd probably get upset again.

"Have you been thinking about your real dad?" She went further.

"Yeah." His answers were still all one-worded, but Sara was patient. She knew her son better than anyone, and at times it took some fishing around to get to the root of the problem.

"Would you like to talk about it? Sometimes it helps to let it out."

Charlie was silent for several prolonged moments, closing his eyes because he felt tears stinging, threatening to spill out. He liked to be strong and brave for his mother. Charlie took a deep breath and decided to spill what had happened in art.

"In art class we had a sub and he recognized me." He began. "But he said 'aren't you Nick's son?' And I told him that no, he's just my step dad, but he it just bugged me that everyone assumes Nick's my dad. I love him, but he's not."

Sara was going to respond though she wasn't quite sure what to say to her son, she felt really bad for forgetting that he was the only one like him in the house. He was the only Berman, he was the only kid with full biological siblings, and the only kid who was never going to see one of his parents again. She was about to tell him that she knew how hard it must be, and that she was sorry for forgetting like that when he continued speaking "Nick is a great dad, and he's a great step dad, but he's just not my real father. You're all I've got real parent wise, Mom. I just wish people would understand that."

"Well, honey, Nick loves you very much. He loves you just the same as any of his other children," Sara said to her son, "neither of us have to be alone without your dad. Nick's here for us, and so are Brandon, Noah, the girls, and Colin."

"Well, I mean, I know that they're my family and stuff. But... they're also not." Charlie noticed the look of confusion on his mother's face and decided to try to say it again, a little differently. "They're not all of my family. I still have a different father, I still have different grandparents, and cousins, and an aunt."

"But nobody ever recognizes it, they all just assume you're part of Nick's clan?" Sara asked, she was starting to understand the bigger picture. Her son felt like nobody wanted him to have his other family.

"I guess," he groaned a little bit. That was the closest he was going to let his mother get to the truth about what was bothering him, and it was true anyway, that was part of it. The other part, well, he was secretly afraid that his mother would be mad at him for–he couldn't remember his dad.

"Well, sweetheart, it's okay to miss your dad. But you're not disrespecting him or forgetting about him by letting Nick into your life. I know your father would want you to go on and live a happy life, and not dwell on the fact he's gone. It's okay to move on." She tried to explain gently.

"Yeah, I guess." He sighed, obviously not completely satisfied with her answer.

Sara offered him a half smile and stroked his hair some more. "You don't have to put a label on everyone. All that matters is that you love your father, but you love Nick too. Love is love, whether it's your real family or your step family."

"Okay. Thanks, Mom," He told her as she leaned under the bed and retrieved a battered old photo album, filled with pictures of their life before she'd married Nick, she told him that he was free to keep it for a few days if he wanted. Charlie didn't expect her to realize she didn't remember his father, and that's what hurt most. He didn't have any memory of him at all. It was awful, to have absolutely no recollection of your own parent. Looking at pictures of him was like looking at a photo of a stranger.

"If you need to talk more, you know where to find me. And don't think I'm too busy." She reminded him, ruffling his hair a bit. Charlie smiled at her weakly and sat up, because they heard the oven buzzer going off, indicating that dinner was now ready.

The sounding of the oven buzzer meant that everyone was free to roam the house at will. Marley and Jordan's punishment was over. The older boys knew that it would mean that Charlie was getting up, so they could make as much noise as they wanted to now, and with all the new activity going on around the house Colin woke up from the place he'd fallen asleep on the floor with his Legos.

The family flooded into the kitchen and formed a long line for hand washing while Nick and Sara finished setting the table and getting Colin strapped into his high chair between them. Once everyone's hands had been cleaned, and without even being told to do so, everyone took up their usual place at the table. Once the last one, Noah, was seated the clatter of passing dishes and serving different portions of the meal could be heard throughout the house.

Charlie wasn't feeling completely better about everything and was eager to go down stairs and start looking through the picture book he'd dropped off on his bottom bunk just before he'd come to the kitchen to get ready for dinner. This meant that he wasn't talking much, but though the whole family seemed alive with chatter, so he wasn't sure if anyone even noticed.

Sara had managed to briefly tell her husband about why Charlie was upset. He felt a bit helpless, since the reason he was sad was because of his biological father. All Nick could do was show Charlie that he loved him and cared about him, but assure the boy that missing his own father was okay. Charlie was a great kid, and Nick wished he didn't have to go through so much pain.

Charlie managed to stay almost completely silent throughout the whole meal, letting his step and half-siblings carry the conversation. He knew that his mother wouldn't push him to talk because he was upset. Otherwise, he would be getting just as many questions as the other kids. Nick and Sara excused him to go down to his room to get his album, not forcing him to help with the dishes when he was feeling so down.

"Sweetheart, why don't you bring the album up here so we can all look at it." Sara suggested, thinking it might help to hear other people discussing his father. She thought it might bring back some of Charlie's good memories of his father and cheer him up a little. Charlie agreed and retrieved the album from his bed. After the dishes had been finished, they all piled onto the family's couch to look through the album. Nick and Sara both hoisted a twin into their laps, and the older boys piled in next to them. Colin was more interested in his Legos, and played happily on the floor.

Charlie knew that anyone who could see the family now must think that the were some sort of Brady Bunch, or like the Tanners on Full House, never having a single quibble about anything. But, as much as he'd wanted to be alone with the album, he couldn't help but feel a little better that he had his entire family gathered around him as he opened the book to the fist page.

It was covered in a few pictures of Nick's wedding to Brandon and Noah's mother. The first image was one of Nick and Sara hugging, a cheesy grin on Nick's face, like he'd just won the lottery. Then next to that was a picture of Sara dancing with a tall, dark hired, man, wearing glasses, above it was the caption: 'our first dance.'

Sara pointed to the picture of herself and Charles, "That was the first time I met your dad," she told him, smiling from the memory. "Nick and Kathleen had just had their first dance and insisted that every one of their guests dance too. I tried to get out of it, complaining that I didn't have a date, which of course didn't work. Nick grabbed Charles, introduced us, and told us to dance."

Charlie smiled a little at the thought. His mother had never been the kind of person to be okay with dancing with, or even touching a complete stranger. The other boys laughed a little. It sounded like something that their father would do, and the girls were still gawking at their daddy all dressed up in a tux from the first picture.

The last picture was one Sara had snuck of Warrick and Catherine kissing. Nobody had known about them yet, well not officially. So, it was a great little piece of blackmail that had ended up living up to the title that Sara had given it in the album, 'foreshadowing.' Because it wasn't a full six months after that evening before Warrick had proposed to Catherine.

So far, everything was going well, and Charlie was actually enjoying looking at all the pictures with his family. They flipped the page, and found some baby pictures of Charlie, some of them with his father in the picture. One had baby Charlie perched on a very proud-looking Charles's knee. Yet another with Charles holding his hands, trying to teach him how to walk. Charles was smiling at the camera, and you could just tell that Sara and his son were his world. It made Charlie a bit sad that he'd never gotten to know this wonderful man.

They turned the page again, and there was a picture of what must have been a CSI Christmas party. A young Brandon and Noah were there, dressed in their best slacks and dress shirts. One picture showed them obviously horsing around with Charles, his father.

Brandon laughed out loud and pointed to the photo. "Oh my God, I'd forgotten all about that!" He rubbed his face in amusement. "We'd gotten an early Christmas present from Grandma. It was this pack of gum that snaps at your finger when you try to pull a piece out, and we'd just tricked him. He gave us both noogies."

Noah laughed also. "Yeah, I remember that. He had a good sense of humor about it, and for my next birthday he got me a whoopee cushion."

Hearing the other boys talk about his father like that made Charlie a little angry. He was in the pictures of that day too, and he couldn't remember a single thing they were talking about. His step brothers had apparently been close enough with his father that they could joke around with him, and that he'd bought them birthday gifts.

Charlie's thoughts were interrupted as Noah turned the page he was looking at for him. The next page boasted a picture of little Noah's pre-school graduation. Noah was wearing a blue cap and gown while sitting on Nick's shoulders, and Brandon was standing in front of Nick, his hands on his shoulders. To Nick's left was Warrick, with an arm draped over Chandler's shoulders. On the other side of Nick was Charles standing there, the same proud smile on his face he always bore, with a toddler version of Charlie held in his arms. The title over the picture was 'The Men.' But try as he might, he couldn't remember that day.

Sara looked down at the photograph after everyone had been looking at it for a while, "That one has always been one of my favorites. I used a blown up version of it in a frame on the wall of our old house, you remember honey?"

Sara rubbed Charlie's knee. He vaguely remembered the picture hanging in the hallway surrounded by lots of other school photos of the other kids. "Sorta."

He was going to continue speaking when he was interrupted by Noah again, "Hey, wasn't that right before uncle Charles fell and broke his cell phone?"

Brandon laughed, "Nah man he didn't fall, I think there's a picture in here somewhere." Sure enough a turn of the page revealed the scene he was referring to, "We pushed him. You, me, Chandler, and Charlie."

It wasn't fair. How come his stepbrothers, who already had a father, could remember his own father better than Charlie did? It didn't matter if they had memories of Charlie's father. The only person who really cared was Charlie, and he couldn't muster up even one lousy memory of him. Here they all were, a perfect happy family, when Charlie suddenly felt more alone than ever. Tears formed in his eyes as the rest of the family giggled and laughed at the pictures in front of them. Charlie couldn't take any more, and suddenly stood up, causing the album to drop to the floor, and stormed downstairs to his bedroom.

The rest of the family was stunned to say the least. Nick and Sara looked at each other, not knowing what had just happened, and the children were all silent for a few moments.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Jordan spoke up from her father's lap, not liking when anyone around her was upset. She tended to get wrapped up in other people's emotions, and could easily start crying when others cried.

"I don't know, baby. He must've gotten upset about something," Nick answered, puzzled himself. He heard a little sniffle coming from his daughter, so he wrapped his arms around her a little tighter.

"I don't like it when Charlie's sad."

"I know, Jordan. Mommy and I will help him in a minute. Let's just let him calm down."

Jordan obliged and decided not to ask much more about her older brother. If something was wrong with him and her parents told her to leave him alone, she would. Well, at least until they weren't looking anymore. Jordan picked the picture book back up and turned to the end. She wanted to see pictures of herself.

The last fifteen pages or so were blank, completely empty. Jordan, who was completely confused by this, because her mother never left albums blank asked "Mommy, how come you didn't fill this one up?"

Sara looked down at her daughter and frowned gently, she flipped to the last photograph in the book, it was a picture of Sara holding a barely three year old Charlie in her arms. They were both dressed up in black outfits. Sara looked like she'd been crying for a week solid, "Because Charles died and I didn't really want to remember anything else."

Jordan didn't know much about this Charles fellow, only that he was Charlie's real father. It scared her that Charlie's daddy had died when he was little.

"Daddy, are you gonna die like Charlie's dad?" She asked curiously, turning her tiny head upwards to look at her father worriedly. If it had happened to Charlie's dad, it could very well happen to hers.

"No, sweetie." Nick kissed her head delicately. Though of course no one predict random events, he knew Jordan just needed some reassurance. Heck, he could be run over by a bus tomorrow morning, but Jordan didn't need to worry about all those possibilities. "Not for a long time. Don't you worry."

"Everyone dies, Jordan." Noah piped in knowingly.

"Noah, that's enough, please." Sara told her stepson gently, because he didn't want him upsetting Jordan. She had a tendency to over think things and get things way out of proportion. "No one's gonna die."

"Alright." Nick began to sit up, to break the little party up. "I'm sure everyone has a little homework to do. Jordan, Marley. Let's run you a bath, and then it'll be bedtime."

He led the two girls to stand up, and both of them groaned and protested. They'd spent enough time in their room earlier, and having to go to bed already certainly wasn't enticing. "Enough, girls." Nick told them. "Go upstairs and I'll meet you there."

The twins slowly started towards the stairs, going snail-paced to hopefully drag out the evening a little as Nick turned to look down at Sara. They both knew that Charlie probably needed another talk. "You okay to handle Charlie?"

"Yeah. I don't think he told me the whole story earlier when I talked to him," Sara sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She was going to get up to go down to her son, when she noticed a note of concern in Nick's face.

Sara reached up to her husband's slightly stubbly chin and turned his eyes to look at hers, "He loves you Nick. He's just a little confused right now."

Nick's eyes betrayed that he was a little more than a bit hurt by the fact that his son didn't want anything to do with him anymore. He'd never once since he'd started dating Sara, thought of Charlie as anything other than his own child. It crushed Sara to know that her son was hurting, and that because of it her husband was too.

Sara reached up and pressed a gentle kiss to Nick's lips. "Trust me, he'll come around again."

Nick nodded, but didn't look that convinced. He knew deep down that it had just been a hard day for Charlie. The kid knew he was loved by both Sara and Nick, and all his siblings, but he had a lot of hurt inside from losing his father.

He stood up and then walked to the stairs to usher the twins to the bathroom for their bath, taking Colin along also so he could keep an eye on the toddler. The older boys had since disappeared to the kitchen table to start their homework, so Sara stood and made her way downstairs to Charlie's room. She gently knocked and didn't hear a response, but pushed the door open anyway. Her eyes fell upon a large lump hidden under the covers.

"Charlie?" She called gently as she crossed the room. A sob escaped from the form beneath the sheets and the comforter was pulled tighter. Sara sat down on the edge of the bed and began to rub what she assumed was his back, though it was hard to tell. "Honey, I can see you're upset. Would you like to talk about it?"

Charlie didn't dilly-dally around the issue at all this time, though his response was muffled. "How come Brandon and Noah even remember my dad, and I can't remember one single little thing? It's not fair!"

"Oh honey," Sara said, overwhelmed with a feeling of sadness. She knew that her son was having problems with his identity and things regarding his father, but she had no idea that he couldn't remember him. The thought had never crossed her mind that he might be struggling with something like that.

"It's not fair..." the boy growled again, peeking out from under the sheets. He looked like he was ready to say something else, but he decided not to.

"I had no idea you couldn't remember him, I mean I guess... you were so small when he died." Sara said, rubbing a hand gently up and down her son's arm. "You can't blame yourself. You were just too little to remember him. But I can tell you anything you want to know about him. We have pictures and videos, and we have Grandma and Grandpa, you can always call them too. Aunt Elane, she probably has some great stories."

Charlie sniffled, "I know. It's just not the same though." He pointed out. There's nothing that would ever really fix it. His father would always be dead, and Charlie would never truly know him.

"No, it's not. But you just have to focus on all the stories and the pictures and videos. That's your best link to him. And remember that you have so many people that love you and care about you." She rubbed his back, hoping she was getting through.

"Do you miss Dad?" He whispered a bit curiously. It seemed that his mother was so happy now with Nick and their new family. Sometimes he wondered if Sara even thought about his father at all.

"Yeah. Every day." Sara admitted. "I may not say it, but there's not one day that passes when I don't think of your father. Just little things remind me of him. Like seeing a movie he liked, or cooking one of his favorite meals. It's hard, but I find it helps to think of the good times. I know he'd want us to move on and be happy."

"Nick was like a brother to him, too," Charlie smiled. He could tell that his father and Nick had been really close in the years before he died. "You can tell if you look at the pictures."

"Yeah, he Uncle Greg, Uncle Warrick, and your stepfather did almost everything together for a while. I wasn't the only person who loved him." Sara leaned back and laid down on her son's bottom bunk, propping her head up on his pillow. She pulled her son down so he was laying beside her and absently played her fingers in his hair.

"Hey mom," Charlie said as he listened to his mother's chest rise and fall in rhythm with her breath, "Do you ever wonder what it would be like if Dad was still alive?"

"Well, yeah I do," Sara said gently, "Sometimes I think maybe it would just be you and your dad and me. We'd live in a big house, and we'd have all kinds of art on the walls, and our own library, but the house would be so quiet. Then, sometimes I think that you'd have a little sister, and Charles and I would get to go Christmas shopping for you two together."

"That sounds kinda nice," Charlie said, curling just a little closer to his mother. "But I'd kinda miss Marley and Jordan and Colin."

"Yeah. Me too." It was hard to picture her life now without Marley, Jordan, and Colin. They were her babies. While losing her husband had been one of the worst experiences of her life, in the end, it had resulted in her giving birth to three beautiful children with Nick. It was weird to think about, how his death had resulted in life for three little children.

The mother and son settled in further, Sara stroking Charlie's back as his eyes became heavy again. Only a few minutes later, Sara watched her first born sleeping there beside her, wishing she could magically fix all of his sadness, but knew it wasn't possible. Nick and Sara did their best, and tried to talk to their children about their feelings. She realized that was about all they could do.

About half an hour later, a fresh and clean Jordan snuck downstairs in her pajamas because she wanted to say goodnight to Charlie. She didn't like to see him so upset, and she was worried he was sick of being her brother. Jordan just wanted to let him know that she loved him very much.

She crept down to his room and found the door open, her mother laying on the bed with Charlie. Jordan wasn't sure if they were asleep. It didn't really matter, because she just wanted to be close to him. She very carefully climbed over her mother, who turned out to be dozy but not quite asleep. Sara smiled and pulled her daughter between her and Charlie. It was a tight fit, but it was nice to have all three of them laying there together. Jordan snuggled in, but then leaned up and gave her brother a gentle, quick kiss on the cheek before settling back in. Then, she got to say what she needed to say.

"I love you Charlie."


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Ummm, so sorry for abandoning this story for a while! We've been mega busy! But here is the next installment of our made up Stokes family. We didn't intend it to be this long…it just turned out to be about 35 pages (hehe). Hopefully, you'll enjoy this extended chapter, and leave us a review!__ Thanks for sticking with us!_

Nick was standing with a hand on the front door knob as his other held his two year old son tightly in his other arm. His body was turned out towards the rest of the house as he watched his wife come up the stairs from their sons' bedroom, her oldest in tow. Sara and Nick had decided, after a bout of depression and harsh feelings, that it would be good for ten year old Charlie to get out of the house for a few days and spend time with his other family. So, Sara was going to take him to stay with his biological father's sister and her two kids for a few days. Four to be exact.

Nick couldn't remember a time that he'd been away from either Sara or Charlie for that long since they'd been married and though he was glad that his stepson had the opportunity he was in a way sad to see them leave. Lowering Colin to the floor Nick prepared to say his goodbyes. Clapping a hand over his stepson's shoulder as soon as he'd stepped close enough, Nick pulled him into a hug. The boy tried to protest a little but then gave in and Nick felt him hug back.

"Did you say goodbye to your brothers?" Nick asked him as he gave him a little shake. When the boy nodded he said, "Good boy. What about your little sisters?"

"Couldn't find them," Charlie told him honestly.

"They're up in their room," Nick told the boy. "Mind running up and getting them so they can say bye to you and your mom?"

When the ten year old gave him a half hearted smile and started walking up the stairs Nick smiled a little at him. Finally he had the chance to say goodbye to his wife. Even though it was only going to be a few days Nick felt like he wasn't ready yet.

Nick turned to his wife, who raised her eyebrows with a slight grin on her face, as if to say, _this is so weird for me, too_. Nick grinned back at her as they fell into an easy embrace. Last night as they laid in bed, Sara had confessed how worried she was about leaving Colin and the girls, but also about how she was afraid she would miss Nick too much. Sara knew how much she loved and adored Nick, but it was funny how heartwrenching it was to leave him only for four days. As if reading her mind, Nick gave her a few more words of encouragement as Colin began pushing his toy police car around his parents on the floor.

"You're gonna have so much fun," Nick assured her, still embracing her tightly as he rubbed his hand in reassuring circles on her back. He felt Sara let out a pathetic sigh in his arms, as if she wasn't convinced. It's not like she didn't want to visit Charles' family – she had been looking forward to it – it was just that she didn't want to leave her husband and other kids.

"I know I'm being stupid," Sara confessed as she held him tight, trying to savor the feeling of his strong, warm body in her arms for just a little while longer. All she wanted was one more minute, but she knew that would turn into another minute, then another, and then they'd never get out the door. "I'm just gonna miss you guys so much."

Nick gently moved Sara's head away from his shoulder and held her face lightly between his hands. "Don't say you're bein' stupid. You're not," The seriousness, but gentility in his eyes made her both want to cry and smile at the same time. "We're a phone call away, and you know I'll keep everything under control here."

Nick secretly knew that there was something else that his wife was scared of. For every bit that she loved him he knew that her heart also belonged to another man, but he wasn't jealous. Charles' life had been taken when his son was still small and only a few short years after he'd come into Sara's life. Nick had always been grateful to him for making her so happy back then. But now Sara was going to be with his parents, sister, and her children and Nick realized that she was going to struggle through the long weekend as she was constantly reminded of her late husband.

He hugged her again and dropped a gentle kiss on her cheek. He knew that she adored him but he was the second true love in her life and he respected that. This was going to be the first time that Sara and Charlie had taken the time out to help Charlie really get to know his father, as best as he ever would.

"You're both going to be fine." He told her gently and then added something else barely above a whisper, "and it's okay to cry a little. I know this is going to be tough for both of you."

As usual in the boisterous Stokes household, their tender moment was soon interrupted. Colin rammed his police car into Nick's foot playfully and then the twins along with Charlie came bounding down the stairs. The girls were both dressed in their bathing suits, because they had a playdate in only about half an hour at the Browns' house and they were eager to be ready. However, while they were excited at the chance to go swimming, they were of course sad to see their mother and older brother go.

Jordan wordlessly stepped forward and embraced her mother's middle, resting her head against Sara's stomach, which was about as far up she could reach. "Mommy, do you hafta go?" She mewled sorrowfully for about the fourth time already that day. Jordan was most definitely a mama's girl, and would probably feel Sara's absence the most. Her twin sister was much more independent, and as long as you kept Colin entertained, he was good to go. With two more older brothers and Nick to play with, the parents were sure he would be fine.

"Yes, I do, baby," Sara reminded her gently as she stroked her now shoulder-length brown hair. Marley walked around Sara's body and hugged her from behind, effectively making a Sara sandwich. Usually, the twins yelled "Mommy sandwich!" when they both decided to hug her at the same time, but both were sullen at the prospect of her leaving.

"But I'll be back before you know it, and Daddy's gonna take real good care of you." Sara said reassuringly. Nick stood by, now with Colin back in his arms to keep him from spoiling the girls' goodbye with an illtimed car crash to a big toe.

"But Mommy, what if I want my hair braided for school one day?" Marley asked from behind. "Daddy never does it right."

"Well baby if you ask her really nicely I bet you can get Molly to come over and help you one day," Sara said speaking of Warrick and Catherine's daughter. "She's always glad to come over here and hang out with you girls."

"Think she'll do it today when we're there seeing Sammy?" Marley asked with a cheerful smile on her face. Nick was going to drive her and Jordan over to to spend time with Lindsey's little girl for the last afternoon she was going to be in town.

"I bet she will," Sara told her little girl as Nick watched her turn around to plant a kiss on Colin's head and shift closer to the door. "I love you all... be good."

Nick gently grasped Jordan's shoulder and pulled her back towards him to keep her near as Sara slung her purse over her shoulder. He squeezed his daughter's tiny shoulder in assurance as Sara gave both girls one last kiss to the head also. Sara had said goodbye to the oldest two boys earlier, and they weren't as sentimental and attached to her, of course, so it hadn't been as big of a deal. They were both downstairs in their room hopefully doing some homework.

Charlie said goodbye as they both turned and walked out of the front door. Nick allowed the girls to walk out onto the front porch so they could all wave a final goodbye as the car drove away not long after. The sound of the car cruising down the street quieted until none of them could hear it at all. That's when they all finally sighed, and the girls looked up at their father, still holding Colin, as if asking him what was going to happen now.

"Alright, girls," Nick opened the front door up again so they could go back inside. "do you have your swimming bags all packed?" He hoped the reminder about swimming would cheer them back up. Nick knew that if they were kept busy, they'd have less time to think about how much they missed Sara. In response, they both mumbled.

"Was that a yes?" Nick asked lightly, ruffling Jordan's hair a bit after he'd set Colin down again.

"Yesss." They answered with only slightly more pep in their voice. Nick gave them both a bit of an unbelievable look. Both girls were practially fish, and it was unheard of for them not to be bouncing off the walls pre-swim. Once the initial glumness wore off, Nick was sure they'd be just fine.

"Why don't you bring 'em down here so I can check, and then you need to put some sunscreen on."

Noah appeared at the top of his stairs and after giving his father a look just sat down on the top step. Nick watched as he pulled out his cell phone, something he only had because of a deal he'd coersed his parents in to for getting good grades, and slowly dialed a number. Nick also noticed that it took his son several moments before he pressed the call button. Smiling to himself, Nick decided that his tweleve year old must be calling a girl. Calling from the stairwell was much safer than calling with his older brother Brandon in the room to torment him.

His interest in his son's love life was interrupted again when Marley and Jordan appeared again in front of him with their bags in hand. He leaned forward and took the two pink and purple duffels in his hands checking through them to make sure they had everything. "Two extra sets of clothes girls?"

"You never know when you're going to need something," Marley told him. Jordan grinned at him and piped up, "you might let us stay the night if we're really good."

Nick knew that was their ulterior motive, "Sammy, her mom, and dad have a flight first thing in the morning, you can't stay over there tonight."

"Uncle Warrick, Aunt Catherine, Chandlerin, and Molly will still be there though," Marley protested. "They like us just as much as Sammy does."

"I don't think so this time girls," Nick told them as he pulled out one pair of shorts and a shirt for each girl to put on. He waited for more protesting, but neither of them argued for once. "Go ahead and put these on over top of your suits for the drive over." Nick told them, but realized his request had fallen on deaf ears. The girls were trying to eavesdrop on Noah's phone call.

Nick just watched them for a few moments as they creeped a little closer, and Marley giggled at the different sound of her older brother's voice. He only talked like that to girls he liked. Nick finally cleared his throat, catching both girls' attention as well as his son's on the stairwell.

"Marley, Jordan. It's not polite to eavesdrop," Nick reminded them, though he had to admit he kind of wanted to hear what Noah was saying also. Noah was only twelve, and already keeping more and more from Nick when it came to his personal relationships. Nick guessed he kind of expected it – it had happened with Brandon – but it still hurt to be shut out from certain aspects of Noah's life. Still, he respected his son's privacy. He knew that he wouldn't want to talk about girls with his own father when he was that age.

Noah had since stood up in annoyance and held one of his palms over the speaking part of his cell phone. He couldn't get any privacy in this house. "Daaad!" Noah complained simply, his eyes looking for help.

"Are you talkin' to your giiiiirlfriend again?" Marley teased, giving him a devilish grin.

"Noah go on up stairs and use my room before the girls drive you up the wall," Nick said waving his son towards the stairs. As much as he wanted to hear what the boy was talking about he knew that Noah deserved privacy as much as anyone else in the household. Besides, he was pretty sure he'd get the annotated version from Brandon later on.

Once Noah was out of sight Nick turned his attention back to his daughters, "I'm going to run Colin down stairs and ask Brandon to watch him. You two go get in the Honda and buckle up."

"Okay Daddy," Jordan said and grabbed up her bag and headed towards the back door that led into the garage. She turned around when she realized that her sister wasn't following. "Marley come on!" Marley, who was standing at the top of the stairs trying to hear what Noah was saying, descended them and followed her twin out the door.

Nick couldn't help but laugh at Noah as he carried Colin down the stairs. Once he was in his sons' room he cleared his throat so that Brandon would hear him over his iPod. "Hey bud, I need you to watch your little brother for a while while I run the girls over to Uncle Warrick and Aunt Catherine's."

"Okay Dad," Brandon told him taking his baby brother out of his arms. Then with a wider grin he added, "Tell Molly I said 'hi.'" And then with a cough he added, "And Chandlerin."

"Mmmhmmm." Nick agreed with a knowing tone to his voice. It was getting more obvious by the day that Molly and Brandon seemed to have a little thing for each other. Being a father himself, though, he knew how Warrick probably felt about his daughter being interested in, let alone dating, an older boy, even if there was only one year's difference. "Thanks, man."

Nick reached over and tickled Colin's tummy before he left the room to go back up the stairs. He quickly found the keys on the countertop and snatched up his wallet just in case, then headed out the garage door to the Honda. The girls had taken it upon themselves to start slopping on some sunscreen, but they were using way too much. Nick decided it was better than them getting burned, even if it was getting on the cushions.

Soon, Nick had driven over to the Browns and the girls practically leaped out before he could even park the car. He smirked a little to himself about how well the girls were doing now that their minds were occupied. Jordan and Marley rushed to the front door to be greeted by a just as excited Sammy. Nick tagged along behind, but by the time he got to the door, the girls had already been whisked away by their friend out to the pool. Nick of course came in for a while because visiting Catherine and Warrick without a bit of hanging out was just unheard of. Almost an hour later, after they'd discussed football, their kids, and Sara going away, Nick pried himself away to get back home to make sure the boys hadn't burned the house down.

When he arrived home, the only noise in the house was the sound of twelve year old Noah playing X-box in the living room by himself, talking a bit of a good-natured trash to whoever was on the other end of the headset he was speaking into. Nick smirked and shook his head at his son's competitive nature as he let the keys skid across the counter. Noah didn't even hear him come in and continued playing.

Not hearing any sounds from two year old Colin, Nick decided to head upstairs to see if Brandon had perhaps put him down for a nap while he'd been away. However, when he opened Colin's bedroom door, he was nowhere to be found. After checking down in the older boys' room and the back yard, and coming up empty-handed, Nick started getting concerned. He approached Noah and gently pulled the headset away from his ear. Noah jumped a little but relaxed when he saw it was only his father.

"Oh, hey Dad."

"Hey. Where'd your brothers go?"

"Colin kinda got a little bummed out because everyone was going out but him," Noah told his father as soon as he'd stopped to tell everyone over headset that he was going to be back in a second. "So I think Brandon took him out for ice cream or something. They asked if I wanted to go but I was still on the phone so I said no."

"Oh, well thanks for letting me know," Nick told his son. "Did he say if he had his cell phone with him?"

"He didn't say," Noah told his father, getting a little frustrated the conversation was taking so long. Nick realized that his son was just looking for a little time to zone-out before the other kids got home. "He always has it though. Why did something happen?"

"No, I just like to know where you all are," Nick admitted to his son. Then remembering the extremely private conversation his son was trying to have earlier he had another question. "So what was that call about earlier?"

Nick could see the slight frustration on his son's face. He wanted to get back to his game, and he didn't want to open up to him about his little conversation. "Daaad!" Noah complained, completely taken aback that his father thought he was going to spill all the details about his conversation with a girl of all people.

"Noaaah!" He mocked back, and ruffled his hair. "Get back to your game and we can talk later." Nick decided as he pulled his cell phone out. Noah nodded and looked relieved that he'd been let off the hook, at least for now.

Nick wandered up the stairs to start getting some laundry ready after he hit dial for Brandon's cell phone number. All the kids, even Colin, knew that they were supposed to let Nick and Sara know if they were going anywhere. Granted, he hadn't been home and Noah wasn't exactly the best messenger, but at least a note would've been nice.

After a couple rings, Brandon picked up. "Dad, I can't talk right now." He said simply. Nick could hear little Colin whimpering in the background.

"Brandon, are you okay? Where are you?" Nick asked him, stopping in his tracks. Brandon's tone of voice was making him nervous.

Nick heard the sounds of his son's voice with another man's for a few moments before his questions were finally answered. "Mr. Stokes," the other voice said into the phone. "My name is Officer Greene. I stopped your son for going ten over in a thirty-five. I wouldn't have ticketed him but since your other son was in the car, and so young, I felt like I had to."

"Right, well thank you officer," since he and Sara had started working the day shift they had surprisingly begun to know fewer and fewer of the people who worked at PD.

Nick hadn't ever heard of this officer and though he sounded young he realized there wasn't much point in trying to talk him out of giving his son the citation. "Send him straight home, okay?" Plus it would be good for the teen to have to work for the money to pay off the ticket and/or lawyer. He'd learn a bigger lesson about speeding with a two year-old in the back seat.

"Of course." Officer Greene told Nick, and then handed the teenager back the cell phone along with his ticket, Driver's License, Registration, and message from Nick. Brandon sighed and thanked the officer, though he would later wonder why. Having parents in law enforcement could be a good thing at times, but at the moment it wasn't. Brandon closed his eyes as he put the cell phone back up to his ear.

"Hi, Dad." He said a bit sullenly into the phone, more pissed with himself than anything. Brandon couldn't believe he hadn't been paying attention enough to notice the cop on the side of the road, and couldn't believe he was going that much over the limit with Colin in the car.

"Are you okay?" Nick checked, one hand on his hip as he paced the hallway.

"Yeah," Brandon knew his dad was concerned, but also hidden in his voice was a bit of anger and impatience. "I'm coming straight home, don't worry."

"Yeah, I think you better," Nick told him, his tone a bit curt. Brandon was a pretty responsible kid, which made it all that more unbelievable that he'd gotten a speeding ticket with Colin in the car. Nick heard Colin still whimpering in the background. "Maybe you need to hand the phone back to Colin so you can concentrate and drive correctly."

"Daddy," Nick heard Colin's tiny voice cheep into the phone. "The puh-wice ossifer gaved Bandon a tick. He very mad."

"He was mad. And it was a tick-et," Nick corrected his son. Then he added,"It's okay, people get tickets all the time," But he was still thinking about how proud of him he was that he'd mastered the art of talking on the phone in the last month or so. As angry as he was at his other son he couldn't help but smile about the two year old's achievement. "Was your big brother going really fast? Were you scared?"

"Not till the puh-wice yelleded at Bandon," Colin cheeped in. "We have ouse-cream. I have a'nilla."

"Mmm," Nick said. "That's my favorite kind, with chocolate sprinkles."

"Me too," Colin said into the phone again and Nick heard him slurp the ice cream. Realizing that the little boy was in the back seat trying to juggle an ice cream and the phone Nick envisioned the mess he had to be making. If Brandon didn't take the phone back soon the whole back seat would be covered in a sticky white mess with sprinkles on top.

Nick made his way down the stairs and out the front door to keep an eye out for them, since Colin had been so upset. He didn't have very long to worry, however, because just as he was thinking of telling Colin to put down the phone, he saw the family's car pulling around the corner. Brandon was now driving about as carefully as he did on his driver's test, coming to a complete stop at the stop sign, and not daring to drive over 30 miles per hour.

"I think I see you, buddy," Nick said into the phone. He heard his son gasp a little in excitement, and his eyes peeked out the side window of the car so he could see Nick as Brandon pulled into the driveway.

"Daddy!" Colin squealed into the phone. Nick winced when he dropped his vanilla cone onto the seat in all his relief. That didn't really matter much to Nick at the moment, however. He hung up the phone and immediately went to Colin's door to get him out. Nick picked him up into his arms, giving his youngest a big hug as Brandon turned off the ignition.

"Daddy, I was scared." Colin mumbled and whimpered a little. He buried his slightly sticky face in Nick's shoulder, feeling safe and sound. Brandon reluctantly got out of the car and sighed as his father gave him a disappointed look. Nick reached into the car and pulled out the cell phone, and began rubbing circles on Colin's back.

"It's okay, Colin. You're safe."

As Nick gently rubbed his son's back he looked over the tiny boy's shoulder towards his other son. For a moment, as he took in the forlorn look on his teenager's face, he remembered when he was just as small as Colin was now. Nick recalled the way he'd spent so much time in the first four years of his life clinging to his mother's side. Then when Noah had been born, it was like a switch had been turned and Brandon had instead become an appendage to Nick's own side. Still, that too came to an end.

Now even though Nick knew that his teen still adored him, and given the option, he'd choose to be with him over his mother and would choose to trust his father over anyone else in the world, he didn't show it like he used to. Every now and then, very rarely, he would hug his father or take a day off of socializing to stay home with him when he was free from work, but the displays of affection were few and far between.

At that moment, however, Nick could see that his son needed some sort of comforting. What he'd done was reckless and wrong but the punishment would come in time. Gently lowering his young son to the ground he said, "go run inside and find Noah. Brandon and I will be in in a few minutes." Then he turned back to his son prepared to give a pep talk and lecture all mixed into one.

Brandon was a good kid for the most part, and Nick knew him well enough to realize that he was already beating himself up about getting a ticket, and having Colin in the car with him. So, Nick put his hand on his son's shoulder and gave him a quick pat. "Let's go sit on the porch."

Brandon nodded, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets as he walked with his father to the porch swing. They both sat down on the chair, and it creaked and swung slightly at their combined weight. Brandon sighed and leaned forward, cradling his head in his hands. Nick wasn't sure exactly where to begin. Brandon already knew what he'd done wrong, so he cut right to the chase.

"Are you a little shaken up?" Nick asked him, studying his oldest son.

Brandon nodded. "Yeah," he said quietly.

"I can understand that," Nick acknowledged. "Being pulled over is a pretty unpleasant thing, especially your first time. Why were you goin' so fast?"

Brandon scrubbed his hands over his face, hating the inevitable questions. "I took Colin out for ice cream and ran into some friends, and they wanted to hang out. So, I was trying to get Colin home fast so I could go back out with them."

Nick nodded, letting the words set in. "Having a license and a car isn't a right, Brandon. It's a privilege, and a lot of responsibility comes with it. What do you think's going on in my head right now?"

"Probably something pretty much like what I'm thinking," Brandon said. Then looking up at his father he continued. "You're disappointed in me. I'm disappointed in myself. Not because I got caught. I mean, I wish I hadn't and all... but I can't believe I was that stupid. Colin's just a little kid and it was my job to protect him."

Nick frowned at his son realizing that Brandon was right when he said he was thinking a lot of the same things. However, he didn't like knowing his son was feeling so badly about himself. "Well you're right. I am disappointed in you, but really being pulled over is a part of life. I've been pulled over too. But I meant what I said. It's a privilege. One that you have to earn and you have to work hard to keep. You abused that privilege when you took such a risk with your little brother in the car. Wanting to hang out with your friends is not more important than your little brother's safety. What if you'd hurt someone or yourself?"

"I don't know what I would have done Dad," Brandon interrupted. "But it's not like it was that big of a thing. It was stupid to do it with a two year old in the car. I know that... but I wasn't going that much over."

"People get hurt all the time because of speeding," Nick told his son. "And even if you're a good driver, which you are, you can't count on everyone else on the road being good drivers too. If someone else were to make a mistake you could have been going too fast to avoid it. Things happen Brandon."

"I know. And I'm sorry." Brandon mumbled, running his hand over the top of his head. He was calming down a little more now that he was home, but he couldn't quite tell if his dad was angry at him, or consoling him. Brandon guessed it was kind of a combination of both when his father continued, giving his back a pat.

"I can tell you know why what you did is wrong, but I can't let this go without some consequences." Nick told his son. While Brandon was remorseful, he had still done something irresponsible and he couldn't just let it go unpunished. "The money to pay your ticket will be coming out of your pocket."

"Okay," Brandon agreed, knowing that was perfectly fair. It really sucked, but it was fair. "Am I grounded from driving?"

Nick sighed. He relied on his oldest a lot to give the younger kids rides various places, but one of the reasons for getting his ticket was because Colin had been in the car. Nick kind of wished Sara was here to discuss it with her. However, Brandon had proven that right now, he wasn't being a responsible driver. "I think it's best if you have a little break from it, yes. No car for two weeks, and then we'll see how trustworthy you are behind the wheel."

Brandon just nodded and stood up, wanting to retreat to his bedroom, but his father's voice stopped him. "Brandon," Nick called. The teenager stopped in his tracks and turned to face him. Brandon was just as tall, if not a little taller, than his father now, but his face reminded him of how he always pouted a little as a child after getting in trouble.

"I'm glad you're okay."

Nick sighed as he watched his son wave off his comment and go into the house. Sighing and feeling badly that he'd had to revoke his son's driving for the next two weeks, he shrugged. With Sara gone from the house it was going to be tough being the only driver but he'd make do.

He walked into the house and saw his middle son, Noah, pacing in the living room in the oddest way. Colin was playing quietly with his car set again on the floor with "toon toons" playing on the TV. Walking in to the living room Nick took a seat on the couch and watched as Noah stopped moving and plopped himself down on the overstuffed recliner near him. "You got something on your mind bud?"

"Uh, kinda," Noah answered him. Then running a hand through his hair the twelve year-old looked as though he decided he had to come out with it. "Uh... Dad... uh... earlier I was on the phone with a girl. Uh, one I kinda like. Well... I kinda asked her out. Uh... and she can only go out tonight... so can I? Uh... and can I have some money?"

Nick bit back a smirk at his son's obvious embarrasment. He remembered how scary girls were at his age, and how his older sisters and brother had given him such a hard time about it all. And Brandon was relentless in his teasing of Noah. No wonder he was being so secretive.

"Uhh…sure, Noah," Nick told him as he sat down on the other couch. "may I ask who this girl is?"

Noah looked at his father, wishing he didn't have to explain, but knew his parents liked to know who he was hanging out with. "Allison Jacobs. She's in a few of my classes at school."

Nick nodded, rubbing his fingers along his jawline in thought. He didn't want to pry, but he was really curious to know more about this girl that had his son so smitten. Nick did happen to know Allison's parents from some school functions, and knew she was a good kid. "Okay. Alright. And where are you gonna take her?"

"Umm…" Noah scratched the side of his face a little. "I don't know. All I know is she said yes."

Nick laughed out loud at Noah's answer. What a typical guy. "Well, I'll help you think of something. Does she like ice skating? Or bowling?"

"Maybe." Noah answered, completely clueless.

Nick cleared his throat in amusement. "I see. Well, if it's just gonna be you two, maybe ice skating would be a good choice. I could drop you off at the pizza place right next to the rink, and you could have dinner, then walk over."

"Uh, that sounds okay I guess," Noah said. He played hockey so he knew his way around ice skates and he wouldn't have to worry about being embarrassed if he fell. "But what if she doesn't know how to skate?"

"Teach her," Nick said winking at his son. "You'll get to hold her and and stuff that way. Plus there's video games and stuff. I'll give you enough money so you guys can hang out in the arcade too, in case you don't want to skate the whole time."

"You're good at this aren't you dad?" Noah said with a slight smile. He looked like he was relaxing a bit more already. "I've never been on a date before, ya know? And Allison, she's great. We're lab partners in science. I mean she and I have been friends for a while now. Since like fourth grade, but we've never done anything out of school before."

"You nervous?" Nick asked his son. And then suddenly felt like he wished Sara was there. She would have a better insight for what the boy should wear and stuff like that.

"A little," Noah admitted. "But not like I guess I would be if she wasn't my friend, too."

"You'll do fine." Nick assured him. "Just remember that you _are_ friends. Just relax and have a good time, and treat her like a lady."

Nick could tell there was something else his son wanted to ask, but was uncomfortable about it. "You wanna ask me anything else?" He prompted him gently.

"Umm…" Noah stumbled. "How do you know if you should kiss a girl? I mean…am I supposed to because it's a date?"

Nick again bit back a smile at how nervous Noah was. It was kind of cute. "Well, son. Just because it's an official date, doesn't mean you have to kiss her. You'll just have to see how the night's going. Pay attention to how she's acting – if she's holding your hand, smiling at you. But don't worry about it so much on the first date. You'll have plenty more chances."

Noah wasn't sure if his dad's advice had helped him or not. How were you supposed to know if a girl wanted you to kiss her? Why was the guy supposed to make the first move? Noah sighed nervously. "Okay. Thanks, Dad."

"No problem. Did you finish cleaning your room?" He asked.

"No, not yet," Noah admitted. That reminded Nick of the ice cream mess in the back of the car that Colin had made. He definitely wasn't cleaning it, because it was Brandon's idea to get it in the first place, and he was on punishment now.

"Why don't you go start, and tell Brandon he needs to come upstairs."

"Yeah okay Dad," Noah said as Nick watched him walk the down the stairs. He couldn't help but laugh a little at the boy thinking about how nervous he was. He hoped that he didn't feel like he had to kiss the little girl. Sometimes girls at twelve weren't ready for stuff like that, yet.

A few moments later Nick saw Brandon standing at the top of the stairs, "yeah Dad?"

"Oh, I need you to go clean out the back of the car okay?" Nick told his son as he moved into the kitchen and started removing the proper cleaning implements from beneath the sink. "Use these, and don't forget to leave the windows down and the garage door open so the car airs out a bit. I don't want any of us to have to sit with those chemicals in the air next time we get in."

Having been called in to help graveyard shift with a surplus of cases, he hadn't really had the opportunity to lay down. He still had about an hour and a half before he had to drop Noah and Allison off at the pizza place and pick the twins up, and he was exhausted. "And Brand, I'm going to head up and take a quick nap. Don't let me sleep too long."

As he walked back through the living room he saw little Colin sound asleep on the carpet in front of the television. His toy truck was still clutched in one hand as he sucked on the thumb of the other. Nick walked over to the sleeping toddler and picked him up gently. Leaning forward to turn off the TV, he kissed the boy's head gently and cradled him in his arms.

As he made eye contact with Brandon, who was on his way past, Nick thanked his son for helping out so much and decided to take Colin up to his room. He was going to put his son in his own bed when he changed his mind. It had been a long time since Colin had fallen asleep in his arms - since before he'd learned to walk. He wanted to take the chance to be with him a little.

So, Nick instead took his youngest into the master bedroom with him and laid him down on Sara's side of the bed. He carefully took his little shoes off, depositing them on the floor, and tucked him in. Nick then toed his own shoes off and climbed in on the other side. Usually, if Colin conked out, he'd be asleep for a couple hours, and it was just nice to have some alone time with him even if he was asleep.

Soon, Nick had nodded off, and was awoken a little over an hour later by Brandon poking him. "Dad!" He called his father for the third time. Brandon was used to his parents having to take naps during the day, with their usually helter-skelter work schedules.

Nick startled awake and rubbed his face as he turned over to see Brandon waving the cordless phone in his hand. "It's Warrick on the phone."

Nick looked over at the other side of the bed and saw that Colin was still sound asleep, in the exact same position he'd laid him down. He cleared his throat so he wouldn't let on to Warrick he'd been napping and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"Thanks, man," he told Brandon as he took the phone. Brandon rolled his eyes a little in amusement and left the room. Nick followed after him so he wouldn't disturb Colin. "Hey, Rick. What's up?"

"Up from your nap, sweetie pie?" Warrick teased him, having heard from Brandon what his father had been up to. Nick laughed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he headed downstairs.

"Hey, man. I got called in on my day off. How are things going?"

"Well, I've got a little girl sitting here with me who misses you for some reason." Warrick informed him as a sleepy, slightly cranky Jordan curled up next to him. The girls had only emerged from the swimming pool about half an hour earlier, and they were still in their suits, wrapped up in their robes.

"Do you?" Nick asked. "are they ready to come home?"

"I think so," Warrick agreed as he gave Jordan a half-hug from the side. "They've been in and out of the pool all day, so they're getting pretty worn out. I think Jordan wants to talk to you though."

Nick waited for his friend to pass his daughter the phone and then he heard her small voice say hi to him. "Hey sweetie. Are you having fun playing with Sammy?"

"Yeah but can you come get me now?" the little girl asked. "Marley's being kinda mean and I wanna come home and stay away from her a while."

"Well are you two getting kinda tired?" Nick asked his daughter gently. He knew full well that when the two of them got tired they fought just like the sisters that they were. "Why don't you go ask Aunt Catherine to brush out your hair and put it up and I'll be over as soon as I can."

"Okay Daddy," Jordan said into the phone gently. "I love you."

"I love you too sweet pea," Nick smiled and turned off the phone. He had since made his way downstairs and into the kitchen area. Since the girls were cranky and tired, a good dinner would probably serve in everyone's best interest. As he glanced at his watch, he saw that it was also about time for Noah's date. Nick quickly pulled out some spaghetti and the Prego sauce.

"Brandon!" He called for his oldest again. Brandon soon appeared a little reluctantly as Nick was getting out a pot for the spaghetti. It seemed he just been doing nothing but favors for his father all day long. "Hey. I need to go pick the girls up and drop Noah off. Can you just get this started for me? If you could make some meatballs, and then if I'm not back put the spaghetti on?"

Nick could tell Brandon wasn't exactly thrilled at being given yet another task to do, but with Sara gone, Nick needed all the help he could get. "Sure," Brandon agreed, his slight annoyance obvious.

"Thanks, bud. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Nick called down to Noah that it was time to go. He'd picked out a pretty good-looking number in his opinion – a pair of faded demin jeans, paired with a gray short-sleeved Polo top, along with his fleece jacket. He looked a bit nervous, but he grinned at his father, excited for his date.

"You ready?" Nick smiled a little at his son. He could smell that he'd probably borrowed some of Brandon's aftershave. "Let's go."

Nick glared at Brandon before the teen had a chance to make some sort of comment about Noah being all dressed up for the date. "Colin's asleep in my room. Keep an ear out for when he gets up. And thanks for helping me out so much Brandon. I owe you one."

Nick put a hand on Noah's shoulder and pushed him towards the door that led into the garage. "So we're going to pick her up right? I'll do that before I go get your sisters. That way they won't embarrass you."

"Thanks Dad," Noah said. Then taking out his pre-printed mapquest directions, he passed them to his father. "I'm not sure if you know how to get to Levette Terrace but I thought I'd get you directions anyway."

"Thanks, but I had a case up that way a couple of years ago. I think I can figure it out." Nick opened the door to his car and climbed in. As Noah scrambled in to the seat next to him Nick watched as he pushed the wrinkles out of his clothes and chuckled. "Relax man, you're gonna do fine."

"Girls make me nervous," Noah admitted, letting out a deep breath.

Nick just smiled as he pulled out of the driveway. He didn't want to break it to the little guy that girls always made guys nervous, no matter what age you got to. Nick tried to put his son at ease as they drove to Allison's house. He found it without much problem, and walked to the door with Noah to introduce himself. Allison seemed just as nervous as Noah did, but her parents were as nice as could be. Nick and Allison's parents smiled knowingly at each other, obviously finding it amusing their kids were so nervous. After promising to have Allison back by nine, Nick led the two lovebirds to the car.

On the way to the pizza place, Nick tried to make small talk with Allison. She seemed like a really nice girl, and Nick could see why Noah liked her so much. Allison answered Nick's questions politely, but he could tell the whole situation made her nervous.

About ten minutes later, Nick pulled up to Peppi's Pizza Palace and put the car in park as he fished for his wallet. "Alright, you two. Have fun. Noah, give me a call when you're ready to call it a night."

"Thanks Dad," Noah said as he hopped out of the car and led Allison to the front door of the pizza place. Once they were safely inside and out of sight, Nick turned the car on and pulled away.

It took him about seven minutes to get to Warrick and Catherine's house. He sighed a moment as he sat in the car. He loved his life and his family. Each one of his children was just as special to him to the others but sometimes he longed for the old days when he wasn't constantly doing things for his children. He had just spent the entire day driving, cooking, cleaning, disciplining them. Still, he wouldn't trade them in for anything in the world. All six of them made his life worth living.

Climbing out of the car Nick walked up to the house and opened the front door without even knocking. He was welcome to come and go in the Brown home as he pleased. Sitting in the living room that was just a few feet away from the front entrance, Nick waved to Chandler. "Hey Chandler, you know where the girls are?"

Chandler pointed to the couch next to him where Nick saw Marley sound asleep. Being the more outgoing of the twins she also played a lot harder than Jordan and had a habit of wearing herself out. "How long ago did she crash?"

"Uh, about a half hour or so," Chandler told him. The fourteen year old was a nice enough boy and played well with the twins. "Jordan's in the other room with mom and Lindsey I think."

"Thanks Chandler," Nick said as he started to walk out of the room. "You wanna wake her up or do you want me to just come get her on my way out?"

"Uh, I'll just let her sleep," Chandler said, knowing his baby cousin well enough not to want to disturb her. He tugged the blanket up over her a bit more and said, "She's pretty worn out. Sammy ran 'em both down."

"That doesn't surprise me." Nick called over his shoulder. He heard the sound of Catherine, Lindsey, and his little daughter down the hallway chatting quietly. Before knocking, Nick stood in the doorway for a few moments and just watched. Jordan was probably having the time of her life now, getting her hair braided by Catherine, and her toenails painted by Lindsey. Marley sure would be jealous later. Sammy was conked out on the bed also.

"Are you still tired, Jordan?" Lindsey asked her cousin. Nick smirked at the question. Neither girls would ever admit to being tired. With two of the three little girls fast asleep, and the phone call he'd gotten earlier, Nick was sure Jordan would soon follow.

"No, I'm not tired," Jordan said confidently. "You know, one time I stayed up all night long, and I wasn't tired at ALL." she bragged a little. Nick laughed to himself at the complete lie. She'd never made it past eleven. Finally, he knocked, causing all three heads to turn towards him.

"Daddy!" Jordan exclaimed happily. She was about to get up to hug him, but Catherine stopped her.

"Let me finish your braid, sweetheart, and then you can hug your daddy." She reasoned. Jordan seemed to accept it, as Nick walked in towards them and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"You look beautiful, darlin'." he complimented her, and she beamed. "Did you have fun today?"

"Uh-huh." Jordan nodded, forgetting it would make it harder for Catherine to braid. "We swam aaaaall day long, and we had cheese and crackers and we played on the swingset, and Barbies too."

"That sounds fun. Did you both behave yourselves?" Nick asked as he watched Catherine wind a rubber band around Jordan's hair to finish the braid off.

"I did, but Marley was being mean." Jordan informed him. Nick knew with the twins that there were always two different sides to the story, and often they were very different. If it had been major, he was sure he would've gotten a call.

Nick thanked Catherine and Lindsey for everything and took his daughter by the hand to help her down from where she was perched after Catherine finished the braid. Then leaning forward, he gave Lindsey a hug and kiss on the cheek and said "have a safe trip back home. It was good to see you again kid."

"You too Uncle Nick," Lindsey told him returning the hug. "I've missed you guys."

"Well I think Jordan and I better get Marley and get out of here," Nick said. Then with a smile, he took his daughter's hand and started leading her back towards the room Marley was sleeping in. "Tell Sammy we all said bye and we'll miss her. Have her call the girls sometime." Turning back to Catherine he added, "thanks again for taking them all day."

"It was great having them," Catherine said honestly. The girls all played so well together, apart from a few disagreements that happened when any set of kids played together.

"Tell Rick I say bye too," Nick said as he very carefully scooped Marley up into his arms. "Jordan, can you tell Aunt Catherine thanks for having you?"

"Thanks, Aunt Catherine," Jordan chimed obediently.

"You're welcome," Catherine winked at her as she opened the door for Nick. He carried Marley out to the car and carefully loaded her into the back seat along with the girls' bags. Nick buckled the sleeping girl in and made sure Jordan was also before getting in himself.

"Daddy, can we stop at McDonald's on the way back? I'm REALLY hungry," Jordan requested, patting her stomach.

"No, sweetie. Brandon's starting dinner. We're having spaghetti and meatballs," Nick backed the car out of the driveway and then put the car in drive. As he looked in the rearview mirror, he could see Jordan proudly fingering her braid. She always loved the feel of it on her head, and it was a battle to take it out when her hair needed to be washed.

"Can I call Mommy when we get back?" She scratched at her stomach a little bit, and her chest also.

"We need to wait for her to call us when she gets in," Nick told her. "But you'll get to talk to her, I promise."

When Nick pulled the car back into his own driveway he had to resist the urge to express his anger out loud. Marley and Jordan didn't need to hear it. There was an extra car in the drive, and judging by the style of it it, belonged to a teenage girl. Deciding to get Marley up and then escort her and her sister into the house, Nick resolved that once the girls were taken care of he'd deal with Brandon.

"Marley, sweetheart get up," Nick said as he leaned around the back and jiggled her knee with his hand. "Come on baby girl you gotta go inside. You can take a nap in your room until dinner if you want."

Marley shrugged herself awake and managed to fumble herself out of the seatbelt and finally out of the car. Nick and Jordan both followed her towards the house, but when they stepped inside the distinct smell of burning meat flashed into their noses.

"Brandon!" Nick bellowed down the stairs as he rushed into the kitchen to see how badly messed up dinner was.

"Daddy, it smells bad in here." Jordan complained, pulling her shirt up over her nose. Nick rushed to the stove to turn the heat off. He pushed the pan off the burner and turned the fan on and opened the windows just as Brandon high-tailed it up the stairs. That's when Nick noticed Colin, watching cartoons in the living room. At least he was fine, but he was so unbelievably angry that Brandon had left him unsupervised, and with the burner on in the next room, apparently while entertaining a girl downstairs.

Nick locked eyes with Brandon as he emerged from the basement, and the teenager could tell how beyond pissed his father was at him now. It looked like Nick was capable of burning a hole through his skull with his eyes at that moment. "Girls, get up the stairs," he told the twins a little shorter than he would have liked. "Take Colin with you."

Jordan could tell Brandon must have done something awful, so she didn't question her father or complain at all. She took her little brother's hand and they all began walking up the stairs to their bedrooms.

"Do you have company?" Nick asked his son, hands on his hips.

"Y-yeah. But, Dad, we could see Colin the whole time. I left the door open, and we weren't-"

"You better tell her to leave. Now," Nick ordered him, and then turned his back to go fix the mess in the kitchen. He put the pan of meatballs in the sink, which had now cooled off, and started running water over it.

"Can I at least walk her out?" Brandon asked in a demanding tone. Nick knew that he probably wouldn't see the girl again. His son was going through a bit of a player stage. But he'd raised his son to have manners and treat women with respect so all he did was nod, allowing his son to walk her out.

"Ten minutes to say goodbye," Nick said, giving the boy more than enough time to explain himself to her. Brandon called down the stairs and she soon appeared. Turning to the girl Nick said, "It was nice to meet you... uh... I'm sorry I don't know your name."

"Melissa," the girl told him shyly. "Melissa Walsh, I'm the new detective's daughter, we met a few weeks ago. I didn't realize Brandon was your kid. Uh... thanks for having me over and I hope next time it's on better terms."

"I'm sorry that I have to ask you to go so soon Melissa," Nick told her with a frown. He remembered meeting the girl with her two sisters and brother now that she brought it up. They had been there at some police picnic thing that a few select members of PD had been obligated to go to a few Sundays before. Detective Walsh hadn't started working yet. "Brandon's kinda in hot water right now. Come back for dinner sometime though."

Melissa nodded and offered Nick a bit of a solemn smile, feeling like she had somehow gotten Brandon in trouble with his dad. Brandon put his hand on her back and steered her towards the front door so they could say goodbye.

As the door closed, Nick scrubbed his hands over his face. Of course, Brandon was picking now to give him problems, when there was only one parent at home. He was normally so reliable, and he was just as highly confused as he was angry that all this had occurred. Nick worked in the kitchen to clean up the mess, scrubbing hard at the pan as he thought about how he was going to handle this. The ten minutes to wait for Brandon to say goodbye probably served his temper well, but as soon as Brandon walked back in the front door, he felt himself getting ticked off again. How could Brandon be so irresponsible?

"Let's go to your room," Nick told him first off, not wanting to upset the other kids in case he had to resort to raising his voice. Plus, Marley was a known eavesdropper in the house. Brandon sighed and reluctantly followed his father down the stairs to the room he shared with Noah. He knew it wasn't wise to start making excuses, but he couldn't help himself.

"Dad, before you start yelling at me, she was only here for, like, ten minutes. And I kept checking on Colin." He tried to defend his actions as they reached his bedroom door. Nick torqued his jaw as he held the door open for his son, then let it close a little louder than usual.

Nick closed his eyes and forced himself to count to three before he began talking to his son. Nick had always tried to be the type of father to talk things out with his kids instead of yelling. Sara yelled sometimes. So did he, but it was rare. It was just a difference in their parenting style. Neither of them liked doing it though, and Nick knew deep down that the best tactic with kids, even teens, was to try to make them understand why you were so angry. If they saw your side, which was sometimes impossible with a sixteen year old, it made getting them to cease the behavior a whole lot easier.

"Just tell me why," Nick said through gritted teeth. "I just want to know why you've given me so much trouble today. Why you wanted to have someone over when you KNEW I wouldn't be okay with it. Why you broke house rules by having someone over without asking. Broke more house rules by leaving your brother alone, by having a girl in your room without permission. Why you couldn't pay enough attention to dinner to keep it from burning? What's going on Brandon... you're NOT like this usually. Is it because Sara's gone?"

"No Dad, God." Brandon said in disgust. "I mean I love Sara but I don't have some sort of 'I miss my mommy' syndrome thing going on. I guess I'm just pissed because every time one of you goes somewhere I have to play Mr. Mom. I mean, I didn't ask to be the oldest of six kids and it's not fair I have to do all this shit for all of the tykes.

There's a REASON I don't have sex all the time like the other guys at school. I don't want to be a dad... it's not fair. And then the other kids get away with so much more. I mean I wasn't allowed to date until I was thirteen... Noah got to go out with a girl and he's only twelve. Does that mean Colin's allowed to get married when he's six? Maybe I want to be a fucking normal teenager and MESS up once in a while."

"Brandon you know you--" Nick was cut off.

"Can't because I have responsibilities. Because my little brothers and sisters need me to be responsible to: A. be a good role model, B. keep them safe, C. because you and Sara need me and couldn't make it without me, D. a bunch of other shit," Brandon said, his tone brooding with anger. "I've heard the speech a thousand times Dad. I get it. I have to be perfect because you and Sara can't keep your hands off of each other and you don't know how to bag your swimmers."

"Hey!!" Nick's voice boomed loudly throughout the room, and possibly the entire house. Brandon was just about pushing him to his limit. It was a rare event in the Stokes household for Nick to become so angry. But Brandon figured he was in deep enough trouble already, he might as well get everything off his chest. He couldn't believe the kind of trash that had just come out of his mouth.

Nick continued, his voice still raised. "Watch your language, and watch your tone! I've always been willing to listen to you, Brandon, but I'm not standing for the way you're talking to me, and the way you're talking about my wife!"

Both men were seething with anger, and Nick wished he had Sara here this moment to cool them both down. Brandon kicked at a pile of clothes on the floor, turning in his place. He muttered something inaudible and just glared at his father. Nick's brain couldn't function where to even begin with his son. He'd just spilled so many feelings and secrets about what he thought of his life, Nick was still trying to digest. All he knew right then was that Brandon was pissing him off and offending him on so many levels. But also, that while all these years Brandon had been a big helper, there was a lot of resentment.

"I'm way too angry right now to even deal with you, Brandon," Nick gritted through his teeth. "So here's what's gonna happen," He tried to think things through calmly, though he was anything but calm at the moment. Nick didn't want to say something he'd regret later, and with all the anger boiling up, it was highly possible. "You're gonna sit your ass down on your bed and chill out until you can speak to me respectfully."

"Or until you can come up with some lame-ass speech about respect and responsib-"

Brandon was cut off when his father grabbed his upper arm and physically sat him on his bed. The teenager was a little taken aback, but held his glare against his father. "Don't MOVE from this room until I decide you're ready to come out! You're grounded from everything you can think of until further notice – phone, internet, friends, everything."

Nick let go of his son and shifted backwards. He tried to stammer out an apology, immediately feeling regret over what he'd done. It was one of the worst things he could have imagined. The attempt at an apology fell on deaf ears though. Brandon looked wounded and pulled away from him, keeping his arms up to guard him where he sat. Nick couldn't take the sight of seeing his child afraid of him. He walked out of the room and towards the stairs feeling like half of a human being.

As Nick walked up the stairs slowly he couldn't believe what he'd done. He had never, not once, taken a hand to any of his children in anger. He'd never even spanked one of them. It wasn't the way he was raised and especially since he'd been married to Sara, given her past, they'd never even been okay with it. This was different than a spanking though. Nick had let himself get so angry with his son that he put a hand on him and forced him to move. He knew that the way he'd grabbed his son's arm was strong enough that he might have even left a bruise.

Remembering, for the second time that afternoon, back when Brandon had been a tiny child, he almost couldn't resist the urge to go down stairs and hug him and tell him he was so sorry for what he had done. In truth, he was ashamed of himself and he'd have to sit down and have a long talk with Brandon, sometime in the not too near or far future, about how wrong he was for what he'd done. But now wasn't the time. The teen needed to sit and quietly reflect on what he'd been doing all day. They both needed a time out and an opportunity to calm down.

Nick thought about everything his son had said, trying to translate the important parts from the ranting rage of a teenager to what he was really saying. Brandon felt like he'd been cheated out of getting to be a normal teenager because he was given so much responsibility with the younger kids. He was right, in a way. It wasn't fair to him. He deserved to be a kid for as long as he could. Nick and Sara had forced him to grow up a lot faster than they should have.

Running a hand over his head he started pressing his fingers over his temples and rubbing them in big circles. Nick was starting to feel like he'd messed up as badly as Brandon had that day. It was a lack of communication and a messed up sense of child/adult roles that had caused the whole problem. Of course Brandon should be responsible for watching the younger kids some of the time. It was part of being a family. But Noah was old enough to take on more responsibility now too, and it wouldn't hurt for Nick to ask Brandon a bit more often rather than telling him what needed to be done.

Still, Brandon's language and behavior was unforgivable. He had to be punished for it. As Nick was pondering all that had been said and done, he heard the familiar sound of the house phone ringing. It was Sara calling finally to tell him she'd arrived safely. Sighing, he calmed himself down the rest of the way and pulled the phone to his ear, "hey sexy," he purred into the phone as he sifted through the freezer to find something to make for dinner.

Sara smiled on the other end. "Hey," she began as she unpacked her suitcase in the bedroom she'd be staying in. "We just got in about half an hour ago."

"Oh yeah?" Nick asked, feeling himself calming even more as he listened to his wife's voice. He desperately wished she was with him after the day he'd had, but it was amazing what the sound of her voice did to him. "How was your flight?"

Sara furrowed her eyebrows a little at the sound of her husband's voice. It was croaky, and he sounded very tired. She didn't doubt that the kids had run him down, handling them all alone, but could never had guessed the events that had transpired with Brandon.

"It was fine. Are you okay? You sound really tired." Sara asked in concern as she laid out a pile of clothes on her bed.

Nick chuckled humorlessly as he rubbed at his forehead. He was so disgusted with himself, and still so angry with Brandon, that he didn't know where to start. Nick found a frozen pizza in the freezer and took it out, then turned the oven to preheat. "Well, we've had a pretty eventful day around here," he said vaguely. Nick didn't want to ruin Sara's trip by making her worry about what was going on at home, but at the same time, she had a right to know. Especially given the seriousness of the situation.

"What did Marley do?" Sara asked automatically, half in jest, and half seriously. She was usually the ringleader of bad behavior in the household.

"Marley was pretty good, actually. It's been Brandon that's acting up."

"Brandon? But he's usually such a good kid."

"Yeah, he is, but he snapped on me today," Nick then went on to explain how Brandon had gotten a speeding ticket with Colin in the car, and then how he'd invited a girl over without permission and had her in his room, while his little brother sat unattended upstairs. And he told her the awful incident that had happened downstairs – how Brandon had confessed his frustrations quite rudely, and how he'd grabbed his arm.

"Oh, Nick," Sara gasped at the end of Nick's horrible tale. She'd since sat down on the bed to digest it all, and felt horrible that Nick was there all alone dealing with everything. "Baby, I can tell you feel really bad about grabbing Brandon. And maybe you overreacted, but you know he can push buttons when he wants to. Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm more concerned with what's going on with Brandon."

Nick was leaning up against the kitchen counter – his face buried in his hand as he listened to his wife trying to convince him things were alright. "But, Sara. I grabbed him. Really, pretty hard. I mean, I've never laid a hand on him. He must be so confused."

Nick shrugged even though she couldn't see it and then ran a hand through his hair. Even though it was already done and in the past he really couldn't forgive himself for what he'd done to his son. It was as bad as hitting him. "I just feel like a really bad father. I mean... I can't believe I did that to my son."

"Nick honey," Sara said with a gentle understanding tone. "I know we've talked about it. I know we agreed that we'd never hit the kids, not even a spanking but what you did wasn't so bad. I mean, yeah it was in the heat of the moment but the way he was talking to you... something had to be done. You're not a bad father. We have six kids, six. Any one of them would tell you you're the best father in the world, me too. Hell I bet Kathleen would even agree, if you really asked her."

"But I pushed my son Sara," Nick said, still unable to get over what he'd done. He knew that what his wife was telling him was true but he just couldn't forgive himself. What he'd done, in his own opinion, was one of the worst things he ever had. "I grabbed him forcefully and shoved him down."

"IF you'd done something that was actually bad I would drive home right now and kick your sexy little Texan ass cowboy. But you didn't... which is good because Charlie and I are having a good time."

"That soon already?" Nick said pretending to be hurt. "I mean you just got there. You have that much more fun with your ex husband's family than me?"

Nick was already feeling so much better after talking to his wife, though he still felt guilty. He knew he needed to apologize to Brandon, but they both still needed some time.

"You know I'm teasing." Sara smiled through the phone, amazed that she could miss him so much after only being separated a few hours. "But they're great. I wish Charlie could spend more time around Charles' family."

"I know, babe." Nick said softly, and heard a door open and close up the stairs. "And I think we need to plan trips like this for Charlie more often. He needs to be with the other part of his family too."

Nick heard some sorrowful crying at the top of the stairs, which he identified as belonging to Jordan. As he and Sara talked about possible plans of more regular visits, Jordan made her way down the stairs with her favorite stuffed bunny tucked under her arm. As she neared the bottom, Nick looked over to see his daughter red-eyed and her clothes skewed. She was definitely not a graceful sleeper. Jordan gave her father a sorrowful look and crossed the room silently, then wrapped her arms around his middle for a hug.

Nick reached his free arm down to gently rub Jordan's back as he told Sara about Noah's date, and how nervous he'd been. Sara wanted to know all the details when Noah got in, which he was sure his son would be mortified to share.

"Well, I've got someone here who'd like to say hello to you." Nick told his wife as he gently tousled Jordan's braid. She looked up at him and smiled gently. At the age of five, she was very much attached to her mother, and thought the world of her. Nick gave her a wink before he handed the phone over to her.

Once Nick had made sure that Jordan had a good grasp on the phone he told her to make sure that she offered it to all the other kids to make sure they had their chance to talk to their mom if they wanted he went back into the kitchen to make dinner. Realizing that the frozen pizza wouldn't be enough for such a big family he figured he might as well throw together some leftovers and make a pot luck of everyone's favorite foods. Putting on a small pot of boiling water to make some fresh macaroni and cheese, Marley's favorite, when he realized that the tub of it that was in the fridge smelled old.

Taking out another Tupperware container he checked to make sure Brandon's favorite, garlic mashed potatoes. Nick was honestly surprised that they were still in there, but decided to warm them up anyway. Jordan's favorite was her mother's home made pancakes which they always kept some of in the freezer so he put some on a plate and into the microwave.

Thinking that Noah would have been well provided for being on a date at a pizza place and that Colin was still so young he hadn't become vocal about his favorite foods, aside from Oreo cookies, he didn't make anything overly special for them. He just figured that with only one frozen Pizza left in the house the array of oddly matched side dishes would make up for the limited food supply. Nick decided, also, that if the kids could all be good for the whole day he'd like to take them out to dinner the following night. He didn't get much alone time with them and it seemed like a welcome distraction, IF they could all be good.

Jordan preferred a lot of privacy when she spoke on the phone, and had travelled into the living room to sit on the couch. Still, she spoke to her mother quite softly as Sara no doubt asked about her day at the Browns', and offered her comforting words when Jordan expressed how much she missed her already. As Nick busied himself with food preparations, he heard Jordan climb back up the stairs with the telephone so everyone could talk to Sara.

About twenty minutes later, the phone seemed to have made its rounds to all the kids in the house besides Brandon and Noah, ending with little Colin, who sat and talked at the bottom of the stairs.

"Colin, I wanna talk to Mommy again." Marley said from where she sat on the living room floor coloring as Colin wrapped up his conversation. Her hair, which she had come to realize was not braided like her sister's, was rather tangly, and her scalp itched a bit from the combination of swimming and the sun.

Colin said goodbye to his mother, and then just to spite his older sister, he hit the off button on the phone and then set it down, giggling.

"Colin!" She screeched quite dramatically, and her eyes welled up with tears. "You stupid little meanie head!" Marley accused him, and then threw one of her crayons at the little boy. Since leaving from the Browns, Marley had been in a decidedly cranky mood, even after her nap. She couldn't believe that Jordan had gotten her hair braided AND her toenails painted. Someone should have woken her up! And now Colin was being mean to her.

Nick stepped into the living room when he heard Colin yelp out loudly and then begin to cry. He didn't even speak to Marley. All he did was give her the 'you're in big trouble missy' look and point at her and then to the kitchen table.

"But Daddy, Colin KNEW I wanted to talk to Mommy again and he just hung up the phone right in front of my face."

"Marley Nicole you're in time out," Nick said sternly. "We don't throw things at people in this house, you understand me? You could have put one of your little brother's eyes out with those crayons. I don't know what's gotten into you since we got home but don't think I haven't noticed the way you're acting."

"It's not fair Daddy," the child continued to protest. "Noah gets to go skating, Jordan gets to have her hair braided and her nails painted, and I don't get anything. All I wanted to do was talk to Mommy and now I don't even get to do that."

"Sweetheart did you get to talk to her earlier?" Nick asked his little daughter. If she didn't get to talk to her mother Nick would pick up his cell phone and dial her right back. It wasn't fair for her to miss out on that, she was right.

"Well I did but I wanted to talk to her again because I wanted to tell her that Sammy told me that she was going to get a new puppy when she got home and then she was going to get to name it and I really really really want one too but I also want a kitten and I wanted to ask mama if we could have a puppy or a kitten or a pet because I really want one and..."

As soon as the child took a breath Nick chimed in, "Marley that's enough. If you already talked to her you can wait until tomorrow. Mommy and Charlie are busy right now."

Seeing that she wasn't going to get her way, Marley burst into tears and let her little body collapse on the floor, hoping her tears would sway her father. Nick, however, wouldn't give in to her dramatics, and followed through with her punishment. He plucked her limp body up from the floor while Marley wailed and kept her body like jello, and carried her to the kitchen table. After he managed to sit her down, he left her there to finish out her crying fit unnoticed.

"Everyone in this house is MEAN!" She announced after a minute or so of bawling from her chair. From where she sat, she could stare down her little brother and offer him a poked out tongue as revenge.

"I fink YOU'RE mean!" Colin yelled back from the couch, where he was sitting with Jordan now.

Nick shook his head from the kitchen. "Colin, we don't talk to people when they're in time out." he reminded his youngest. Everyone knew that Marley thrived on attention, and giving it to her when she was in time out defeated the purpose. Colin looked at his father and pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key. "Good boy."

In the kitchen, Nick finished up putting all the food on their respective plates just as the oven buzzed, signaling that the pizza was done. He began to dish that out also as Marley's bawling died down to a whimpering a few minutes later. Nick looked over the bar to where she sat. Her face was perched on the top of the chair, her tiny fists clutched to the backs, like she was in prison. She was almost too cute to stay mad at.

"Marley, come here." He told her. Marley got up straight away, glad to be able to stand up, and walked over to her father in the kitchen. As he finished wiping his hands on a towel, he turned to face his frowning child. "Do you think you'll be able to sit at the table with us and speak nicely?"

Marley nodded wordlessly, still with a frown on her face. "Wonderful. I think you need to say something to Colin first." He prompted her. Nick watched her reluctantly walk over to her little brother and mumble that she was sorry.

Nick didn't feel like he was ready to face Brandon yet, and didn't think his son was ready either, so he called Jordan over to take a plate down to him.

Even though the child didn't look like she was in much of a better mood Marley said, "I'll take it to him Daddy." And reached up to take the plate full of food. Nick was almost suspicious at how kind she was being, but he didn't question it. He watched as she stepped into the living room and kissed little brother on the head saying "I'm sorry Colin."

As soon as Marley reached the bottom step she shrugged off the good girl facade. "Brandon here's dinner. Daddy's mad at me so you better tell him I'm being a little angel, alright?"

"He's pissed at me too," Brandon snarled at her and rubbed his arm still in disbelief that his father had done what he did. "So I don't give a damn what he thinks about you or anyone else at the moment."

"I'm gonna tell him that you said those bad words Brandon," she teased back at him. "You're not supposed to say them."

"No you won't," Brandon told her. Then taking the plate from her he shifted on his bed so that she could sit next to him. "You're just as mad at him as I am. You want some of my macaroni?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded and was already feeling better, sitting there with her older brother, who was in trouble just like she was. It was kind of nice to have someone in the same boat as her, or so she perceived, and wasn't the only one on their father's bad side. Brandon handed her the fork and allowed her to eat a few bites as he ate his slice of pizza. He'd been too angry to do much, so he'd just been listening to music on his iPod to calm himself down. Brandon wasn't sure what to think about his father sending down his favorite, garlic mashed potatoes. Did that mean he felt guilty about what he'd done and was offering up some kind of truce? If he was, Brandon hoped he realized it wasn't going to come that easy.

"Daddy was really mad at you. What did you do?" Marley asked her older brother curiously.

Brandon didn't think Marley was quite ready to hear about what had come out of his mouth earlier. Hell, he wasn't even prepared, and Brandon doubted their dad would appreciate it being repeated. "I said some bad words," Brandon told her simply, and then ruffled her hair a little. "You better get back upstairs so you can have dinner."

Marley nodded and handed her brother the fork. "Okay. I'll try to sneak you down dessert if we get any," she promised. Brandon thanked her and gave her a wink before she left the room and headed back upstairs. The rest of the family was already seated and digging into their makeshift dinners. Marley took her normal spot right next to her twin sister, and Nick had set Colin next to him to help cut up his pizza into smaller pieces. It felt strange, having only four people at the table.

Just as the family was thinking about how odd it was to have so few people at the dinner table they hard the unmistakable sound of a car door slam. Nick stood to walk to the front door and see who it was, looking down at his watch. He couldn't believe that they were having dinner so late. It was five minutes before 9 o'clock Noah stepped through the front door a moment later. "Hey kid, how was it?"

"Fine," he said with a smile on his face and a shrug as he dropped his jacket off of his shoulders and threw it over the back of the chair in the living room.

"Just fine?" Nick asked as he picked the jacket back up and passed it back to his son. "Go hang it up in your closet, we don't leave things out."

Noah took the jacket back in his hands. He'd only even worn it because it was an ice rink and his father had insisted that he'd get cold, "Yeah Dad it was just fine. I don't want to go into the details with you okay?" The twelve year old, still grinning a bit, walked towards the stairs that led down to his room.

Hearing a shriek Nick walked back into the kitchen where he found Marley and Jordan wrestling in the corner behind the kitchen table. Marley had succeeded in pulling the braid out of her twin's hair and threw the hair tie at her. Jordan stopped fighting off her sister and slumped onto the floor sobbing.

With the day Nick had had so far, it was a wonder that he didn't completely snap at the sight before him. If there was one thing Marley was good at, it was tormenting her siblings, especially her twin. Nick again wished that Sara were here. She was better at dealing with female drama than he was. When the twins had an off day like they'd had at least this evening, it could get pretty horrible. Nick didn't doubt who was the culprit, however, as he saw Jordan cowering in the corner.

Nick paused to let out a calming breath for only a second before he rushed towards them and clapped his hands together once to get Marley's attention. "Marley Nicole Stokes!" His voice bellowed over the sound of Jordan's sobbing and Marley's shrieking. Marley continued to pull at her sister's hair until Nick finally reached her and grasped her arm, then managed to gently untangle Jordan's hair from her sister's fingers. Part of him wanted to march Marley straight up the stairs to deal with her antics, but as he saw Jordan sobbing on the floor, he knew she needed to come first.

After he'd successfully untangled the girls from each other, he firmly steered Marley in the direction of the stairs. "Dinner's over for you," he told her sternly. "March up those stairs NOW and get your little behind in bed. I'll be up to deal with you in a minute."

Poor Colin sat at his booster chair with his hands over his ears from all the screeching. Marley began stomping up the stairs to her bedroom. Nick sighed and then walked back over to a still sobbing Jordan and picked her up into his arms. "Oh, Jordan," he tried to soothe her the best he could. Nick sometimes couldn't perceive how cruel Marley could be. He sat down in the seat closest to him and set her in his lap as he hugged her.

"Daddy, it hurts!" she complained of her pulled hair. "And she ruined my braid!"

Just as Marley stomped out of sight Nick saw Noah bridge the top of the stairs. As he scooped up Jordan in his arms to try to comfort her he said, "Hey Noah would you do me a favor?"

"Yeah Dad, what do you need?" Noah said, still in a good mood from his date. Nick realized it must have gone well but he didn't have a hope of getting the details out of his son. Being the middle, most well adjusted child, he managed to keep his privacy better than the others in the house.

"Can you take Colin up and start a bath for him, and try to get him into bed if I'm not up there in time?" Nick asked. "And then if you're not afraid to enter the war zone do you think you could get Jordan's sleeping bag out of her room and set her up to camp out in Colin's room for the night? Just in case I can't get Marley to drop this before she falls asleep."

"Yeah, okay Dad," his son didn't protest. Nick felt badly giving such a huge task to his son. He realized that he and Sara put a lot of weight on to his shoulders, Brandon's as well. They were the oldest two of the kids though. It was just luck of the draw. Sara was much less inclined to leave as much responsibility on Charlie's shoulders, for whatever reason. Perhaps because he was still in elementary school.

When Noah was out of sight Nick carried his youngest daughter, by two minutes and fourteen seconds, into the living room and sat down on the couch settling her on his lap. He gently ran his fingers through her long brown hair as he tried to work out the knots that her sister had so skillfully put in there.

She whimpered slightly, but buried her face in Nick's shirt, glad to have the touch of comfort after such a heinous attack on Marley's part. Nick just held her silently for several long minutes as he continued the action with his fingers. Even though she was hurting, Marley was quite liking having some alone time with her dad, just being held. With six children in the house, none of the Stokes children got as much one on one time as their parents would like to give them.

After a while, Jordan finally croaked something out. "Daddy, can I divorce Marley?"

Nick sighed a little and pressed a kiss to his daughter's head, then looked into her eyes. "Baby, I think you know the answer to that," he told her gently. Jordan closed her eyes and settled her head again on her father's chest. "You may not always get along with Marley, but she is your sister. Sometimes it's hard to be her sister, I know. But you'll always love her deep down."

Jordan sighed a little at Nick's words. It was what she wanted to hear, and what she didn't want to hear all rolled into one. Marley could be one headache of a twin, but her dad was right. She was her sister, and there wasn't anything that could change that.

"Let's get you to bed. You've had a long day." Nick decided, and carefully stood up with Jordan in his arms. She didn't protest, as she was exhausted and emotionally worn out. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his middle, and her arms around his neck, as he carried her upstairs.

Nick could hear the sound of Noah giving his little brother a bath in the upstairs restroom as he passed. He hoped to be able to talk to him about his date before the night ended, if he could get through dealing with the rest of the evening's problems without wanting to pound his head against the wall. Nick took her into Colin's room, where Noah had already set out her sleeping bag and pillow, and set Jordan down on top of it.

"I'll get your jammies and I'll be right back," he assured her. "Go ahead and brush your teeth in me and Mommy's bathroom."

Nick wandered into Marley and Jordan's bedroom to gather the pajamas that he'd promised he'd get when he realized that Marley was sitting on her bed crying. Deciding that now was as good a time as any to lecture his little girl, Nick sat down beside her and started rubbing her back. He took a deep breath, hoping this lecture went better than the last.

"Marley sweetie, I know you're upset but you really can't just act like that. I think we ought to try something new because neither of us like it when I have to punish you. When you're feeling grumpy I want you to come up stairs and just try playing by yourself for a while, watch TV in my room, get on one of the computers, something. Do something special that you like, alone, and try to get over the bad mood. Can you try that for me next time kiddo?"

"I-I-I guess," Marley sniffed to him through her tears. Then shifting so that she wasn't sitting up anymore she lay back and then sobbed again. "Daddy it hurts... it hurts so bad."

"Marley," Nick said with panic in his voice. Of all of the things she'd done over the years to get out of a lecture, feigning pain wasn't one of them. The lecture completely forgotten and replaced by terror that his daughter was in serous trouble he asked, "what hurts sweetheart? Where?"

"I left my suit on after swimming at Sammy's," Marley whined. "I know Mommy tells me not to but I didn't feel like changing... now it hurts."

Nick furrowed his eyebrows at what she was saying, trying to understand. "You still have your suit on, Marley?" he asked her. Marley looked at him with teary eyes and nodded. "Baby, no wonder. We need to get you out of that right now."

Marley began crying again, perhaps at the comfort of knowing she was being taken care of, and also because of the pain that was mounting on her skin. Nick guided her to stand up, and though he momentarily thought about being uncomfortable with what he had to do because his girls were getting older, he knew he was her father and she needed his help.

"Arms up, sweet pea." He instructed her gently, and she obeyed as she whimpered in discomfort. Nick tugged her t-shirt over her head and guided her to take off her shorts. He grabbed her little fluffy bathrobe off her closet door to wrap her up in after she finally got that bathing suit off. "Good girl. I'm gonna get something to put on your skin, baby girl, and I'll be right back."

Earlier that evening, Nick had felt like the worst father in the world after grabbing Brandon's arm and losing it with him, but now as he helped his little crying daughter, he felt needed, and actually felt like the father he wanted to be. His daughter needed him, and he was able to come through and help her.

After helping her rub in some vaseline on some of her rashy parts, Nick helped her into her jammies for the night. Now that the hurt in her skin was subsiding, Nick could see Marley's face ease up a lot, and her demeanor changed. She'd had a long, hard day, and a good night's rest would definitely do her well.

Nick pulled the covers up to his daughter's chin and kissed her forehead gently. "I love you, baby girl," he told his oldest girl, giving her a warm smile. Despite the trouble she'd given him earlier, he still of course loved her unconditionally, and as she hugged him and mirrored his words, he was reminded it was mutual. As Nick stood up to turn off the light, with Jordan's pajamas now in hand, he couldn't help but wonder how Brandon was feeling about him right now. Both Marley and Brandon had been in trouble today, and Nick knew his oldest son was more willing to hold a grudge if he felt he'd been wronged. He wouldn't be able to just hug Brandon and tuck him in like he'd just done with Marley.

Nick turned off the light to the twins' bedroom and walked out, closing the door behind him. He heard that Colin was still in the bath down the hall and decided to go quickly make sure Jordan was getting settled in her little brother's room. Nick was pretty sure the girls would be okay together for the night, but thought it was best to play it safe. He pushed Colin's bedroom door open to find Jordan sitting on top of her sleeping bag with her knees up to her chest as she examined her freshly painted toenails. Nick closed the door behind him and handed her Spongebob pajamas to his daughter.

"Here you go, sweetheart," Nick told her gently, preparing to leave the room so she could change with privacy.

"Daddy?" Jordan's voice called him softly, causing him to stop on his way to the door. He turned around to see a concerned look on his daughter's face. Nick raised his eyebrows and waited for her to continue. "Is Marley okay?"

"She's just tired and grumpy," Nick told his little girl. "And she didn't take off her bathing suit when she got home so she's got a little rash. You're not getting one too are you baby girl?"

"No," Jordan told him as she shifted where she sat. "Goodnight Daddy," she was standing and had run forward to give him a big hug. "I love you."

Nick had started to walk down the hall towards the bathroom to check on the boys when he heard the unmistakable and not surprising sound of Jordan wandering down the hall and back into her bedroom to be with her twin. He heard them speak for a moment and then before long their voices came to an agreement. Jordan was going to sleep in Marley's bed with her to keep her company since she wasn't feeling well.

He was smiling at the gesture and adoration between his two daughters as he walked into the bathroom. "Noah how are you and Colin doing?"

"Alright Dad," Noah answered. "I just have to finish washing his hair and we're going to be done. I've got it Dad."

Sometimes Nick wasn't sure what he'd do without his two oldest boys to help out around the house, especially with Sara not here. And while it was nice to rely on them sometimes, Nick also knew he had to remember Brandon and Noah were kids too. Brandon had reminded him of that earlier. "Thanks a lot, Noah. But I can finish up in here if you wanna go chill out in the living room."

Noah accepted his father's offer. He didn't mind helping out around the house, but it was also nice to have his own personal time. Noah headed downstairs to watch a little television before bed while Nick took over Colin's bathtime. It wasn't long before Nick had his youngest's hair washed and rinsed, and the little tyke all tucked up in his pajamas and in his little toddler bed. Jordan's sleeping bag remained empty on the floor, and by the sound of things, they were both fast asleep in Marley's bed.

Nick walked down the stairs to finish up cleaning in the kitchen, and so he could collect his thoughts before talking to Brandon. He knew he needed to apologize, but obviously Brandon was having some serious problems with how family life was going. While Nick knew he needed to address how seriously Brandon had messed up, he also knew he needed to have a bit of a heart to heart with his son.

Finally feeling like there wasn't anything else he could do to avoid the conversation he had to have with his oldest son Nick started to walk down the stairs. Taking special consideration to knock on the door he was surprised when his son said, "I know it's you dad... come in if you want."

"I think we need to talk Brandon," Nick said. He walked into the room and took a seat on Charlie's bunk bed, the bottom of the two bunks. "Look, first thing. I know you're sixteen and you and I have both kinda felt like you were too old to hear it for a while but I do love you son. I think I should probably tell you a bit more often."

"Whatever, Dad." Brandon said. Then he shifted on the edge of his bed and said, "it's not like I'm going to develop a complex or something. And... you've got a damn weird way of showing it anyway... what the hell was that earlier dad?"

Nick ran one of his hands over his short hair and cleared his throat a little. "I shouldn't have grabbed you, Brandon," Nick told him, looking his son straight in the eye. Sometimes it was hard for a parent to admit he was wrong to his children, but Nick knew it was necessary. "I'm sorry. I really am. What you were telling me got me pretty worked up, and I took things a little too far."

Brandon just looked at his father, as if assessing his honesty. If there was one thing Brandon knew about his father, it was that he kept his word, and meant what he said. "I needed to get some stuff off my chest," Brandon told him honestly. "Sorry if I was a little…blunt about it."

"Bud, I know Sara and I probably put a lot more resonsibility on you than other kids your age get," he began. "And you're right. Sara and I do need your help a lot. It's part of being in a big family, though it's not always fair. There were seven kids in my house growing up, so believe me, I remember how tough it can be."

Nick could tell he was losing Brandon a little bit. It sounded like another one of his responsibility lectures, and that's not what he wanted to convey, not entirely. "But you're sixteen years old. You have a right to have fun and be a regular teenager. It's expected that you'll make some mistakes, because that's life."

"I get it Dad," Brandon said with a heavy sigh. He really did, and Nick knew it. "It just really sucks. I mean, I'm sixteen. I love the kids, I do... I just don't want to be responsible for them all of the time."

"Well Brand I promise to do a bit more asking from now on," Nick said with a square jaw and honest expression on his face. "And a whole lot less telling. There's no reason why your help around here can't be voluntary. But even if you're not responsible for them you have to learn to be responsible around and with them. All of those kids look up to you and when you're responsible for their safety you can't flake out."

"I know..." Brandon paused for a minute and then he started to speak again. "The whole way home after I got pulled over I kept thinking about what I'd do if I'd been in an accident and Colin got hurt. I felt like such an idiot. Going out with my friends isn't worth my brother's life."

Nick knew he must be doing something right after hearing straight from Brandon's mouth that he'd already been thinking about what he'd done wrong. Brandon knew how he was supposed to act, and while he didn't always choose the correct way, he knew right from wrong, and he was taking responsibility. That's about all Nick could ask for.

"You make me so proud, Brandon," Nick said, making eye contact again with his oldest. "I don't think there's anything more I can say about all that happened, because it sounds to me like you've already worked it out."

Brandon just nodded a little and kept eye contact with his father. "I'm sure I can trust you now to be responsible around the little kids," Nick stated. "And to not invite girls over without Sara or me home, right?"

Brandon cleared his throat and nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, Dad. You can trust me."

"Okay," Nick said softly as he stood up. "And I want you to tell me in the future if you think you're getting too much responsibility, alright? Sometimes I can lose sight of things."

"Sure." Brandon agreed as his father approached him. Nick opened one of his arms to give his son a bit of a half-embrace, and was pleasantly surprised when Brandon hugged him back fully.

It had been a long, trying day, and only the first in a series of four days without Sara. There had been so many ups and downs that Nick could've mistaken his own life for a rollercoaster ride. But now Nick sensed Brandon would be helping him more than hindering, and the next few days would be a lot smoother than the first. "I love you, Brandon," Nick told him again, knowing now he'd be more diligent than ever at letting the teenager know his feelings. He felt Brandon hug him a little bit tigther for a second, and even though he couldn't be sure, he could have sworn he heard him say that he loved him too.

_A/N 2: If you happened to make it through the entire chapter, please kindly leave a review! We will send you much cyber-love!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Here's chapter four! Thanks so much to our reviewers. You pretty much rock! At the end of this chapter, we will leave something a little up in the air, and we'd like your input about how to proceed. So, kindly leave us a review and tell us what you think! Thanks for reading! – LLK and bauerfreak_

Sara shifted her eyes open as she felt the familiar sensation of a car taking the I-18 off ramp towards Glendale Avenue. They were about three blocks from home. Sara shifted a bit to be in more of a sitting position in the back of the cab and glanced at her watch. The sun was far in the west so it didn't surprise her that it was well past seven. She ran a gentle hand though her son's hair as his head lay on her lap like a little child.

"We home?" he asked, starling her a little. The car had been an eerie quiet even to spite the fact she was riding with two other people.

"We just turned on to McCourt Drive," she told her son gently as he slowly started to sit up. McCourt Drive was the next street up from where they lived. "You ready to be home babe?"

Charlie rubbed his eyes and looked at her for a second. She knew that her son loved their family with all of his heart but she also knew that sometimes he really needed alone time with her. He would never be one of those people who was good in large groups all the time, and his shy quiet nature tended to let him get washed out in the hubub of a six child family

"I guess I kinda missed Colin," he admitted with a shy smile. The two year old was everyone's favorite family member, most of the time.

"And Jordan," Sara teased her son. He smiled and nodded. "And Marley and Noah and Brandon."

"Yeah, I guess I missed them too a little," he admitted. "And Dad... Nick... er... whatever. Just, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Your secret is safe with me," she said giving her son a full smile. She was glad to hear him calling Nick dad again. There was no reason why he should feel like he couldn't love Nick as a father just as much as he loved the memory of his own father.

A couple minutes later, the yellow cab turned onto their street. It was amazing how just a few days away from home made it so special to pull up into your own driveway again. Getting away for a while was always nice, but Sara truly thought it was so much nicer to come home.

The cab came to a stop in the driveway of the Stokes home. It hadn't burned down. Not that Sara had any doubt in her husband's abilities to handle five kids on his own…but they could be a wild bunch.

"How much do I owe you?" Sara asked the cabbie as they began to unbuckle their seatbelts.

"Seventy-five," he informed Sara. She raised her eyebrows a little. With the rising gas prices, she guessed riding in a cab was more expensive now than it had been just a few years ago. She'd only saved about sixty dollars to pay for the cab.

"Alright. Charlie, will you go in and grab me twenty bucks from the jar in my bedroom?" She requested. Charlie nodded and got out, running towards the house as the cabbie got out to unload their belongings from the trunk. Just a few moments later, the twins came running out, with Colin shuffling not far behind, trying to keep up.

"Mommy!!" They both exclaimed at the same time. Sara grinned from ear to ear as her three youngest approached, apparently elated to see them. It was hard to be away from them for such a long time, because they were all at ages where they still needed a lot of help and attention. She bent down to receive them into her arms.

"Hi, girls!" Sara planted a kiss on both their cheeks as she hugged them warmly. The girls squeezed her hard, so glad to have their mother back with them, especially since Brandon had been in charge since Nick left for work earlier. He'd gotten as much time off as he could, but had to go back today. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you more," Jordan told her, kissing her twice on the cheek.

"I missed you the mostest," Marley trumped as she leaned into Sara, almost toppling her over. Colin reached the pack of three females a moment later, and they let him into the big bear hug.

"You've got a whole brood don't you miss?" the cabbie asked her with a chubby cheeked smile. He seemed like a pretty down to earth family man. Sara had taken an immediate liking to him at the start of their ride when he started telling Charlie about the three hundered species that could be found in the zoo near the airport.

"Yeah," she admitted. "Plus two more boys inside, but they're a bit older and don't miss their mommy like these three do." She picked Colin up and started trying to juggle him and her purse as she waited for Charlie to come back with the money. "He'll be back out in just a sec. I'm sure his brothers have a million questions for him."

"Nah miss, it's okay," the cabbie told her. "With what... six kids? You've got to have a birthday coming up sometime soon. Keep the cash and spoil the kids. They grow up so fast. Before you know it twenty bucks won't seem like much of anything compared to what they're asking you for."

Noah came out of the house a moment later and Sara smiled at her stepson. It was good to see him. She couldn't help but laugh a little. Lately Noah and his brother had started getting more and more expensive, Brandon especially now that he was driving.

"Hi Sara," he said, coming forward and wrapping her up in a hug. She dropped her purse and put an arm around him tightly, running her fingers through his hair. Noah didn't show affection like this often and she knew it meant that he'd missed her.

Oddly enough, of all of the kids, Noah was the least cuddly. Brandon was never ashamed to hug his father or even Sara if he felt like he wanted to, though he'd never do so in public. He'd even had a habit of kissing Sara on the cheek before bed at night, of course that was only on the nights when he wasn't mad at her or Nick for one reason or another. Noah, however, had never been one for physical displays of affection unless he really wanted to.

"I missed you kid," Sara whispered in Noah's ear. She then turned to the cab driver and said, "are you sure about the fare? He'll be back in a minute."

"No, no," the driver told her as he climbed back into his yellow vehicle and started to drive away. He leaned out the window as he rolled onto the street and said, "Sixty's plenty. Have a great evening miss, enjoy your kids."

As the driver sped away down the street, Sara let out a relieved sigh. Charlie trotted out at that moment with some cash in hand, but saw it was no longer needed. He handed the twenty to his mother.

"Thanks, Charlie. He said not to worry about the rest of it."

With five of her children surrounding her, she definitely felt loved and needed, and it felt so nice to be home. "I see you guys didn't burn down the house," she smirked, ruffling Noah's hair. He grinned as they started walking towards the house. Noah and Charlie both picked up a suitcase, and Jordan took her little brother's hand so he didn't wander off.

Sara saw that her sons had picked up her bags, gratefully. Despite all the chaos that regularly went on at their house, they were good kids (most of the time). Little things like the boys carrying in the suitcases reminded Sara they were doing a pretty decent job.

Marley skipped along beside her mother as they walked, and grasped her hand. "Mommy, I have a surprise for you," she said, her voice going up slightly at the end in her little mischievous way.

"You do?" Sara played along. After a plane ride followed by a cab ride, she kind of hoped it involved alcohol. "What could it be?"

"I don't know. You hafta come see," she told her evasively as they walked in through the garage door. Sara was met with the sound of Brandon playing his guitar down in his basement bedroom. She smiled a little. He was getting pretty good, and she admitted to being a fan, at least when she wasn't trying to get a little peace and quiet.

Marley soon pulled her into the kitchen, where quite a grand mess was awaiting her. Dough, chocolate chips, icing and egg shell all adorned the counter top. On top of the stove sat a fresh tray of chocolate chip cookies, which interestingly also had pink icing and sprinkles on the top.

"Lookit, Mommy," Marley pointed. "We made you welcome home cookies. For you and Charlie." She smiled up proudly at her mother. Sara looked past the mess and knew her daughters were just trying to show how much they loved her.

"Mmmm. This looks good." Sara stepped forward and used the spatula to pick up one of the…very creative cookies. They apparently hadn't waited until the cookies had cooled to put the icing on, so the tray was a bit of a mess of cookie and melted icing. Still, she took a bite and grinned as she chewed.

Noah rubbed the back of his neck like his father did when he wasn't sure what to do. "Don't worry, Sara. We'll clean it up. They really wanted to make you a treat."

"Noah, why don't you and I clean up the mess and we'll just let the little ones get away with this, just this once?" Sara asked, winking at him. She could barely contain her relief that Noah had been involved in the baking process as she chewed on the cookie in her mouth. At least he knew about proportions and how to read a recipe, and, she knew that she wouldn't have to worry about biting down on an eggshell.

Noah smiled at her, sensing her relief and smiled in agreement. He took a plate and piled a few cookies on it, handing it to Jordan. "Why don't you and Marley take these down stairs to see if Brandon wants some while Sara and I get up the mess? And tell him she's home too, okay?"

Sara grinned at the twelve year old, proud of him. Yeah, they weren't doing such a bad job with their kids at all. When she'd first married Nick she had been a bit intimidated by playing mom to three boys. Her own was one thing but then two more, who were even older than Charlie, on top of that had intimidated her to say the least. They'd turned into a family pretty quickly and now she loved Nick's two boys easily as much as she loved her own children.

Then all at once the magical spell of having good children seemed to stop. Somewhere else in the house the sounds of Marley's shrieks and Colin's wails were met with Charlie's yells and Brandon's door slamming. In front of her Noah used a paper towel to push all of the loose flour, sugar, and eggs into a trash can he perched next to the counter. He threw the open bags of flour and sugar back into their cupboard, without rolling them up, and put the eggs in the fridge, on the wrong shelf, carton still opened. Then, he picked up all of the caked on filthy dishes piled into the sink and darted out of the room, and out of sight.

Sara sighed, ran a hand through her hair, and started stacking sprinkle and frosting cans neatly on their shelf in the family pantry. With six kids you had to pick your battles and making Noah come do a good job of the kitchen wasn't one she'd win easily, nor was it worth fighting when she could fix it herself in a half hour. At least she'd gone some resemblance of help. As soon as the novelty of Sara being home wore off, it was like things were back to normal in the Stokes household.

As Sara began to wipe off the counter with a wet cloth, a visibly upset Marley came back up the stairs with the full plate of cookies. Sara glanced over at her as she wiped. "What's up, sweet pea?"

She took the plate of cookies from her daughter and set them on the counter, then reached down to tousle her hair lovingly. "Brandon said he didn't want any of my cookies cause he said they looked gross, Mommy. And then he made me leave and he slammed the door and then him and Charlie started yellin'."

Sara sighed, figuring Brandon wasn't in that good of a mood, being in charge of four of his siblings for the afternoon. He was a good big brother for the most part, but like any teenager, he needed his own space. Plus, he was grounded, so he couldn't exactly go to a friend's house to get away from it all.

"I'm sorry, Marley. I think he's just in a bad mood." Sara consoled her. "I loved the cookies you made me. They were delicious," she lied. It seemed to work its trick on the little girl, as Marley nodded and hugged her mother for a little while longer. "Good girl. Are Jordan and Colin still downstairs?"

Marley nodded and rubbed at her eyes. "Why don't you pick out a movie to watch and I bet they'll come join you," she suggested, hoping to get a little bit of semi-quiet time. Just like that, Marley seemed to make a 180, and she skipped off towards the stack of DVDs stored in the living room. Sara wiped her hands on the dishtowel and headed for the stairs to make sure everything was alright.

Colin and Jordan were sitting on the little landing at the bottom of the stairs, next to the boys' room. She didn't know why they decided to pick that place of all places to play with some of the family's toy cars, but they did. They must have just been laying around. The house wasn't too bad of a mess, but it looked like it needed some picking up. However, Sara was tired, and not in any state to caravan the kids about cleaning.

"Guys, why don't you go upstairs and help Marley pick out a movie to watch." Sara told the younger two in the hallway. Jordan nodded and stood up, grasping her brother's hand. She loved to play mommy towards him, and was always very patient and nurturing. "Take your toys up with you, please, so the boys don't trip."

They gathered up the small collection of toy cars and trucks as Sara stepped over them and knocked on the older boys' bedroom door.

The door was closed and even though they had a house rule about locking doors the children had always been allowed to close their bedroom doors if they wanted. It was also a family rule, one that had come into effect when Brandon was about fourteen, that if a door was closed you had to knock before entering, parent or child alike.

Sara leaned forward and knocked on the boys' bedroom door. "Hey, can I come in?"

Brandon was the one who answered, "if you want."

She knew that she was the public enemy when it came to Brandon right now. He was grounded and even though it was his father who had grounded him, Brandon tended to be of the mindset that if one parent was punishing him for something it was a team effort. Sara didn't get any reprieve from this even though she was hundreds of miles away.

"Hey Brand," she said, stepping into the room. She was surprised to see that Noah and Charlie weren't in the room with him. "I was just coming down to let you know we're home safe."

"Okay," he grunted at her, shifting away from his guitar to his computer desk where he booted up AOL instant messenger. He turned and looked at her, "is that it?"

"Gee no," Sara said to him, a little annoyed. "I've been gone for a week Brandon and I don't know about you, but I kinda missed you. I thought it'd be nice to see you after all that time or that maybe you'd even come give me a hug or tell me about your week or something."

"Whatever," he said, standing and walking across the room. He pulled her into a hug quickly, and dropped a kiss on her cheek. She almost marveled at how muscular he was becoming but didn't have time to, the hug was over so quickly. He was already back at his computer. "Welcome home," he said.

"Brandon, what is up with you?" she asked, feeling hurt that he wasn't showing her any more affection than that. Usually when they were alone together Brandon treated her like his mother just as much as Charlie did.

"I just don't feel like having any company right now," he said to her in an annoyed tone. "Okay? Yeah, I missed you but I don't have to come running up stairs and hug you like the little ones do and right now I don't really want to talk to anyone."

"Oh," she said. She decided not to mention that he had just signed onto an instant messenger service. She also opted not to get on him about cleaning his room up, just yet. "Well uh... thanks for helping Dad with the little ones so much while I was gone."

She thought about leaving the room to give him the space he seemed to be demanding through his body language, but decided not to. She sat on his bed and started reading the chemistry notebook he'd left there. If he wasn't going to involve her in his life, she would.

Brandon had been busying himself with typing in his username and password, so he hadn't noticed his stepmother sifting through his belongings. He happened to glance over and saw her thumbing through one of his notebooks. Brandon didn't only write schoolwork in those – if he got bored in class he was known to think up lyrics, which he wasn't comfortable sharing with hardly anyone, especially his stepmother.

"Sara!" He raised his voice and quickly swiped the notebook out of her hands. "Jesus! Can't I get even an inkling of privacy around here?"

Sara sighed and stretched her legs out, tucking her hands in between her thighs as she looked up at her stepson, who seemed to tower above her. It was amazing how much he resembled his father. "I'm sorry, Brand. I wanted to see what you've been studying, and since you won't talk to me…"

"That doesn't mean you can start going through my stuff," he quipped as he set the notebook down on top of a pile of other notebooks and textbooks that crowded his desk. A ding was heard, indicating he'd gotten an instant message. Apparently, he was way more interested in talking to whoever was on the other end. "Look…I'm glad you're back, but can you just…leave? Please?"

Sara reluctantly stood up from the bed and sighed. She really wished she could be closer to Brandon, but that's not what he wanted at this point in his life. It was to be expected, with him being a teenager. Maybe she expected him to be more like Charlie, who still enjoyed her company. It wasn't fair to expect Brandon to be the same, but she could always hope for a little more attention.

"Fine," she replied in a low voice, showing her obvious disappointment. Was it so bad to want to be involved in Brandon's life? She decided to try to dismiss it because of the stress of the last few days. "I'll call you up for dinner in a little while." She started walking to the door and then she had a thought. "Hey – are you even supposed to be on that computer? What did your dad ground you from?"

"I'm allowed to do homework," he informed her, his tone indicating how beyond ready he was to have his stepmother out of the room. Brandon continued, knowing she'd ask about why he was on instant messenger. "I have a question about my chem assignment, so I'm asking Chris."

Sara quirked her eyebrow, questioning his honesty. Truthfully, parenting Brandon still made her really nervous, because he was so different from Charlie. What worked with her own son didn't work at all with Nick's sons. "Fine. But you need to get right off when you're done. And you know, I know a thing or two about chemistry. You can always ask me."

"Yeah, I know," he told her and then stood and walked over to her, putting a hand on each shoulder he started pushing her out of the room. "And if I need your help I'll ask you."

Sara couldn't help but laugh at him as she started climbing the stairs. She remembered the first time he'd ever grabbed her shoulders and pushed her out of a room. He was eleven at the time and the twins were just a couple of months old. He was in their nursery changing Marley's diaper when Jordan had woken up and started crying, and Sara, like any mother, had come running. She hadn't been sleeping well, trying to be the mom of newborn twins and five, seven, and eleven year old boys so Brandon had taken a baby monitor down to his room and resolved he would handle the twins for the night. When he'd seen her he'd grabbed her and pushed her out of the room, he could handle changing a couple of diapers and a midnight feeding or two.

That had been a long time ago now and even though most of the time Brandon was still the same kid, and even though she knew he adored her secretly, it was rarer and rarer that he ever showed it. She came up to the living room and saw the twins and Colin sitting on the floor watching Finding Nemo for the ten thousandth time. "Hey guys have you seen Charlie or Noah?"

"Noah's outside," Marley and Jordan both answered her, in a sing-song voice.

"Chah-wee's up in you and Daddy's room," Colin updated her on the other boy's whereabouts. Sara smiled and tousled his short hair as they all looked on towards the television screen. That Nemo DVD was sure worth the money. Sometimes, they'd watch it all the way through, but at times they got bored sitting around and were known to skip off and play, leaving the movie running.

"Okay, sweetie. Thanks," she stood up and walked over to the kitchen to get herself a glass of lemonade when she spotted a piece of paper on the opposite counter she hadn't noticed before. Her mouth formed a smirk when she saw who it was from. In the age of cell phones, it was nice to find a hand-written note from her husband in his famous chicken scratch.

In the note, he updated her on all the happenings in the house. Colin had wet the bed, and his sheets were in the dryer now. Marley and Jordan needed to get their math homework checked and initialed, Brandon was still very much grounded, and Noah had a big test in history the next day which he needed to study for big-time. Sara knew very well that history was not a forte in the Stokes family. They were math and science people. Noah was currently getting a C- in history, and they were working on helping him pull his grade up. Nick had signed the note with an 'XOXO', and scribbled his name. She couldn't wait to see him later on that evening.

Seeing the note about Noah, she decided she'd better go find him outside and tell him to get studying. She'd quiz him on the chapter later, and make sure he had a nice, quiet place to study. Sara walked over to the back porch and opened it. Halfway down the lawn, he spotted Noah swinging on the family bench swing. He already did have his history book open in his lap, but he sure wasn't studying it. Instead, he seemed to be studying the eyes of a certain young lady sitting next to him. Sara guessed it was Noah's new 'girlfriend' that she'd heard about on the phone, Allison.

Sara had been anxious to meet this new girl in her stepson's life, so she walked out onto the porch and towards the bench swing where they sat. She saw Noah look up at her, with disappointment and annoyance on his face. Still, he tried his best to be polite.

"Hi, Sara."

"Hey, bud. Who do you have with you?" She asked in a kind tone.

Noah smiled a little at Allison, and she grinned shyly. "This is Allison Jacobs. She's a friend from school."

Sara reached out and shook Allison's hand politely. "Nice to meet you Allison."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Stokes," she answered nicely, though she seemed nervous. Sara hoped Noah hadn't told her some horror story about his stepmother.

"How's school going for you so far this year?"

"Pretty good," she answered simply, giving Sara a forced smile.

"Good. Well, I'd love to invite you in for a snack, but I'm afraid Noah needs to head inside and get studying for his history test tomorrow," she informed both kids.

"We are studying," Noah said, holding the book up for Sara to see it. "Besides I'm doing a lot better in history anyway."

"A C's not an acceptable grade in our house Noah," Sara told her stepson, gently. "I'm sorry but until you have, and keep, a solid B in history I think study dates are out of the question."

"That's stupid," Noah grumbled back. "As long as I study what does it matter how I do it?"

"It matters because you learn the material better with fewer distractions," Sara said. While Charlie could best anyone in the more literary side of school work, and still keep up with them in the math and sciences, Sara knew Noah and Brandon both had always needed an extra kick when it came to history and English. "I'm sorry but why don't you say goodbye to your friend."

"Can I at least walk her home?" Noah asked. Sara knew he was trying to appeal to the side of her that tried to teach them good manners.

"I don't think so," Sara said. She knew about where Allison lived. Nick had told her once when she'd called to check in on the family. "Allison lives bicycle distance, not walking distance. I'm sorry, maybe next time."

Noah was obviously about to protest again when Allison stood up, dropped a kiss on Noah's cheek, said goodbye to both Noah and Sara, and got on her bike to leave.

"Thanks a lot Sara," he said. "Now I'm going to have to call her and apologize."

"Look Noah," she said to him. "I get that she's your first girlfriend and all but really, grades are important."

"Fine, whatever," he said back to her, coldly. "You do the same thing to Brandon all the time. You just hate that we're growing up."

"Noah William!" She admonished him, but she was at a loss for words. Why was it that all of a sudden her three oldest had decided to become natural teenagers over night? "Just... I... I'm speechless at that comment. Go down to your room and start studying, now."

Noah picked up his book and kicked at the base of the bench swing in anger. He knew studying and getting good grades were important, but seriously? Sara wouldn't even let him study with Allison. If they were studying, why did it matter?

As he neared the door, he turned around to look at his stepmother, his face contorted with anger and disappointment. "Dad would've let me!"

Before Sara could answer, Noah had slammed the sliding door shut behind him. Sara sighed to herself and tucked her hair behind her ears. That was a regular argument when it came to disciplining each other's kids. Though Nick and Sara always made it perfectly clear that whatever one parent said was the final answer, Noah and Brandon especially liked to throw that little gem out in a moment of frustration.

Sara made her way inside. The three younger kids looked like they were already getting rambunctious, and wouldn't be sitting through the entire movie. With no adult nearby, Marley had since climbed up onto the couch and was prancing around jumping. Sara gave her a look as she closed the sliding door, "Marley, on your bottom."

The little girl complied and got off the couch to run to her mother. "Mommy, will you take us to the park? We're bored!" She complained, tugging on her mother's jeans. Sara sighed and rubbed at her forehead. All she wanted right now was to take a nap.

"Not today, baby. Why don't you go play in the backyard for a while if you're getting bored," she suggested. Perhaps then she could get a moment of peace and quiet. Sara felt guilty that not an hour after she'd gotten home, she was already wanting to be alone. Perhaps if any of her children were being at all helpful, things might be different.

Marley pouted for a moment, but decided that playing in the backyard would be good enough. The three youngest bolted outside to play on the swingset in the backyard.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Noah stormed into his bedroom where Brandon was laying on his own bed, squinting at his chemistry textbook. Noah threw himself down onto his own bed and crossed his arms in frustration. "I hate Sara," he muttered under his breath as he stared up at the ceiling.

Brandon rolled his eyes and continued to scan his textbook. "What now?" He asked his brother.

"She's just so stupid," Noah complained to his brother, rambling. "She sent Allison home just because she didn't believe we were studying!"

"She got on my case earlier," Brandon admitted. Usually if it was Charlie or one of the other kids that had a problem with their parents Brandon would try to make them see the parents' side of the story but when it came to Noah Brandon was always dead honest, even when he shouldn't be. "It just, ugh.. man she started reading my notebooks."

"Dad wouldn't do that," Noah said, grumbling.

They both looked at each other for a moment and said, "Dad _would_ do that." It was the truth. Sara and their father both tried to give them privacy from the other children but for some reason seemed to think that they didn't count.

"You know who wouldn't though?" Noah asked. "Mom wouldn't."

"Yeah but with Mom it wouldn't matter if she did or not," Brandon said, closing his book and looking up at his little brother. "With Mom you don't have to hide things."

"Yeah," Noah pounded his head against his pillow again, settling in. "I miss Mom sometimes. We haven't seen her since Christmas."

Brandon nodded in understanding. They were the only ones in the family that had to deal with divorced parents. Sure, Charlie's dad being dead sure sucked for him, but their mom was living up in Seattle, where they never got to see her. It was rough, not being able to go get a hug from her when they needed one, or get to talk to her when they were upset about something. She just seemed so far away.

"Hang in there, man," Brandon told his little brother. They both knew what each other was feeling, because they were in this situation together. Of course they both loved Sara, but there was nothing like their real mother.

Upstairs, Sara poured herself a glass of wine and was just settling into the couch to enjoy it when her cell phone rang. When she checked the caller ID, she grinned when she saw it was Nick. He was the only one she hadn't gotten to see since she'd gotten back, and the one she was aching for the most. Sara flipped her phone open and settled into the couch further.

"Hey, baby," she almost whispered into the phone. On the other end, Nick had just stepped outside the CSI building for a break from the dark, gloomy indoors where he'd been processing evidence.

"Hey, sexy," he answered, leaning his body against the side of the building. "You back home yet?"

Sara ran her fingers through her hair, "Yea. Got back about an hour ago. Sorry I hadn't called yet. The kids have kept me busy."

"Yea, I bet," Nick didn't doubt that, "Was your flight okay?"

"It was great. No delays," Sara went on, "When I got home, the girls had made me chocolate chip cookies with pink icing and sprinkles."

"Yum," he grinned sarcastically.

"I saved a few for you."

"Thanks. Everything else goin' alright over there?"

Sara sighed a little into the phone tiredly, "Things are alright, but I get the feeling Brandon and Noah aren't too happy to have me back."

"Noah too?" Nick whistled. He knew his oldest was giving the whole family a run for their money but now with Noah on his team they were all in for a hell of a time. "What happened?"

"He had his little girlfriend over," Sara started to explain, "without permission which I might add. I didn't bust him for it. Anyway, I sent her home so he could study for that history test and he got pretty angry about it."

"He'll calm down," Nick told her, which she knew was the truth. "I take it Brandon's just taking out being mad at me on you?"

"Yeah," Sara told him, taking a swig out of the wine glass. "I just hate being on bad terms with any of the kids you know? I missed the boys just as much as the little ones."

"The kids driving you to drink?" Nick teased her, having heard her take a sip of the wine. "Trust me, my guys missed you just as much as the little ones."

"I know they did," Sara said. "Noah came out and hugged me when I arrived. It was so sweet of him. And, I don't know if I told you, but I've been getting texts from Brandon the whole time I've been gone. Things like asking if we were there safe, how Charlie was doing, what it was like, if there were any girls."

"The standard cover stuff?" Nick chuckled. "It's just that power you have over us Stokes men. None of us can stand to be away from you."

"Well at least you act like you love me," Sara said. She heard Nick about to speak again when he was interrupted by the sound of the house phone ringing, "hold that thought I've got to answer the house line." She fumbled around the couch for a few moments and found the cordless phone wedged between the cushions.

When she saw who was calling she answered it quickly and asked the other party to please hold. She came back to Nick and said, "I'm gonna have to take that one. Come home already would you? I miss you and the kids are being mean to me and I want you here with me and not at silly stupid work." She whined into the phone like Marley or Jordan would. Nick laughed at her and told her he'd do the best he could.

"Kathleen, are you there?" Sara asked, pulling the house phone back to her ear. She settled forward to on the couch to bring the phone down to the boys when she was done talking with their mother.

"Yeah, I'm still here," Kathleen said. "How are the boys doing? School? Girls? All of that?" Kathleen only called the boys about once every couple weeks but she always liked hearing the parents' side of things as well as theirs so she had a better idea how they were doing.

Sara started telling her about the boys and their recent endeavors when she watched Marley and Jordan come in the back door with Colin. Jordan poured glasses of water for all three of them and then made a bowl of grapes on the table for them all to enjoy. Sara even heard Marley say please and no thank you as she grabbed the water and headed past her mother towards her bedroom.

Sara finished up her conversation with Kathleen so she could pass the phone off to the boys downstairs. "Oh, I wanted to talk to you and Nick about the boys coming up to see me sometime in the near future," Kathleen stopped her. "It's been awhile, and I know they don't always act like they wanna see me, they seem to enjoy themselves when they're up here."

"Oh, sure. Sure," Sara agreed. She was really glad that Nick and Kathleen managed to have a decent relationship after their divorce. They kept to themselves for the most part, but communicated about the boys when it was necessary. All three adults had always managed to be civil to each other since the divorce. "When were you thinking?"

"Well, I think the boys have Spring Break coming up soon don't they? I know Brandon was thinking of going to California with some friends, but I don't know."

"No, actually the trip's off because they couldn't find any parents to chaperone for the week," Sara explained, which had been a real downer for Brandon. They definitely weren't letting Brandon go off to the coast for a week with a bunch of other high schoolers with no parents around. That was a recipe for disaster. "I'll bring it up with Nick. He's at work now, but we'll definitely talk about it. You can ask the boys about it, because I'm sure Nick would be fine with it."

The two women wrapped up their conversation soon, and Sara took the phone down the stairs to the boys' room. It was closed again, so she knocked and heard a mumble a few seconds later. She pushed the door open to find both boys on their beds reading their textbooks.

"Your mom's on the phone," she announced, and was surprised at how quickly both boys shut their books and sat up, and then dove for the phone. Brandon was a little quicker, and was able to snatch up the phone before his younger brother. Sara squeezed Noah's shoulder in reassurance, but then left the room to give the boys some privacy.

"Mom?" Brandon answered the phone, laying back down on the bed.

"Hey, Brand. What's up?" Kathleen answered from the other end. It seemed like perfect timing for Brandon, that they'd just been talking about how much they missed their mom, and she just happened to call. Gosh, his mom rocked sometimes.

"Uh, not much. Just doin' some homework," he said, "I was playing my guitar earlier."

"You were?" Brandon could still make out her Texan accent. His parents had met in Vegas, but both were originally from Texas. There was something comforting about the slight twang in his mother's voice. "I bet you've improved so much since you last played for me. You haven't posted any new videos on youtube recently, have you?"

One of their bonding activities was for Brandon to film himself playing guitar and post it on youtube so his mother could see what he was up to.

"Yeah I know," he said to her. "I've been kinda grounded a lot lately so I haven't been online as much. I've got a couple new videos finished though. Dad bought me this new software last week so I can make effects and stuff. It's pretty cool."

"What'd you do to get grounded?" his mother asked him, gently. She never got angry about anything. "And you're right, you have been grounded a lot more lately... what's up with that?"

"Ugh," he growled into the phone. "It's just Dad and Sara being stupid and so harsh with all of the rules. I mean, I'm sixteen I'm supposed to mess up once in a while."

"Well yeah you are," Kathleen told her son. "But I think your Dad and Sara are doing the best they can. Six kids is a lot of work, you know?"

"Yeah I know," Brandon admitted to his mother. If only he lived there with her he'd be an only child, or one of two. He was pretty sure that Noah would have wanted to stay with him, "But the truth is sometimes I wish I lived there with you."

"Sometimes I do too honey," Kathleen told her son. "I think about it a lot and I just hate that you're so far away all the time. I mean I know your dad was right that it was important for you to be there and watch your sisters and other brother grow up some... so you could be closer with them. But I miss you boys every day."

"I miss you too mom," he said into the phone, watching Noah intently listening to their conversation. Then he got thinking about what his mother said and tapped his fingers on his knee. "I love the little kids and all but how close are we gonna be really? I'm going to be in college in two years and then what? Maybe it would just be better if I was there with you."

"Brandon," Kathleen said, choosing her words carefully. "I want you here more than anything but-"  
"But." He cut his mother off He was sick and tiered of adults using "but" as a good reason to let him down.

Kathleen heard the disappointment in her son's voice and couldn't take it anymore. "But nothing. You're sixteen and I think you're plenty old enough to decide which parent you live with."

Brandon hadn't anticipated his mother actually agreeing with him. Usually, if he was griping about something going on at his dad's house, he'd get some sympathy, but in the end Kathleen would affirm what his dad and Sara's decision was final. His mother was actually agreeing that it might be good to live with her.

"Really?" He stumbled out, taken aback by her response. "You think I should decide?"

"Well, yeah." Kathleen agreed, "I mean, both me and your father would love to have you live with us. And maybe living there in Vegas was best for you for a while, but you're almost an adult. You're capable of deciding what's best for you."

Brandon was a bit speechless for a few seconds. In a way, it was a little scary to have this decision resting in his hands. There was something comforting about having his parents decide what was best for him. He didn't have control over it, so he couldn't hurt either of their feelings by choosing one over the other. But if his father actually agreed to this – he'd almost be deciding which parent he liked living with better. And truthfully – he wasn't sure if he could pick. He was getting a little tired of being one of six kids, and his dad and Sara's tight rules, but he loved them. But his mom had missed out on a lot of his life the last few years. It wasn't fair that she didn't get to see him grow up.

"Um…yea," he stammered, rubbing his hand over the back of his head in thought as he sat up in bed. "I'll think about it, Mom. Have you talked to Dad about it yet?"

"No, not yet sweetie. I guess he's at work, so it'll have to wait." Kathleen felt a flutter of excitement inside. She didn't want to plant the seed of possibility in her sons' minds if it wasn't possible, but she didn't see why not. Nick and Sara had had them for the past six years, and she was all alone up in rainy Seattle. She deserved a little time with them. Like Brandon said, he'd be in college in two years, and moving on with his own life.

Noah was getting impatient. Whatever they were talking about sounded juicy, and he wanted to know what it was. "I wanna talk to her," he had a little whine to his voice.

"Okay, Mom," Brandon shifted, getting ready to hand off the phone to his brother. "Noah wants to talk, so here he is. I love you."

Kathleen said the same, and soon she was transferred to her youngest son, who wanted to tell her all about his new girlfriend.

"Hi mom," Noah said into the phone, trying not to sound too eager. "What's up?"

"Just calling to check in on my boys," she said to him, happily. "How's things there? How are the other kids?"

"Everything is fine," Noah told his mother. "The twins are being oddly quiet today. Sara and Charlie just got home from a trip to visit his dad's family. Dad's at work and I'm not sure what's new with Colin. He's not really old enough to be any fun yet."

"Yeah but he'll get there," his mother told him, gently. "You remember when the girls were that age, right?"

"Yeah," she liked to hear about how the other children were doing because they were a big part of how her own sons were growing up, but she was always more interested to hear how things were going in her boys' lives. Noah knew this, so he stopped talking about the other kids. "Mom, guess what?"

"What?" she asked, trying to match her son's eager tone.

"I have a girlfriend!" He told her, excitedly. "Her name is Allison. She's in a couple of my classes."

"Wow!" She said, excited. "Hey, I was thinking you and Brandon should come to visit. Bring some pictures of her when you do, okay?"

"Really? When?!" He was even more excited now, something about Sara being away made him really miss his own mother even more. "Have you told Dad yet?"

Kathleen felt like she was lying to her son but the idea that his older brother might come live with her may not go over well with him. She was sure it would be best to let Brandon handle telling Noah all the dirty details. "No, but Sara said she would. Spring Break sound okay?"

That wasn't very far away at all, which made Noah ever more exicted, "Yeah! I haven't seen you in forever."

"It seems that way, doesn't it?" Kathleen agreed. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done, having to move away from her boys. She always savored her time with them when they were up with her. The mother and son shared a little more conversation, but soon it was time to say goodbye. Noah had a lot of studying to do, and he knew Sara would quiz him on it later. He told his mother he loved her, and then they hung up.

Noah sighed after he'd clicked the phone off, and stared up at the ceiling. "How far away is Spring Break?" He asked his older brother, who had since gone back to instant messaging on the computer.

"Hmmm, about a month," Brandon figured as he stood up straight. He figured he shouldn't get his brother's hopes up (or down) about the possibility of actually moving to Seattle. Brandon thought his brother would be even more confused about his feelings than he was, and he didn't even want to get him thinking about it until their dad had approved the idea. "I can't wait."

"Me neither," Noah agreed, grinning to himself. "I'm too excited to study now."

Brandon chuckled a little at Noah as he stood up and decided to go upstairs. His annoyance with Sara had since passed, or at least was temporarily overlooked, as he reached the top of the stairs. Sara still sat on the couch, relaxing with a glass of wine.

"Sara, guess what?" He asked excitedly. Sara already knew what it was, but she played along.

"What is it?"

"Mom wants us to come visit at Spring Break!"

Sara put on an excited face. She knew how much the boys loved to visit their mother. It was important for them to spend time with her, even now as teenagers. "That's great, Noah. Are you pretty excited?"

"Heck yea!" He exclaimed. "Is Dad getting home soon?"

"Yeah I think so," Sara told her stepson. "But if you want you can grab my cell and give him a call. While you're at it can you ask him to pick up some pizza?"

"Thanks Sara," Noah said, grabbing her phone off the couch where she'd left it earlier. He pressed the call button to see who she'd last talked to and when he saw that it was his dad he pressed send.

The phone rang twice and then he heard his dad's voice answer, "hey sexy," and all Noah could do was laugh.

"Hey kitten," he said back into the phone. Then after he and Nick both laughed together for a moment Noah continued, "Hey Dad, I was wondering when you were going to be home."

"I'm about two minutes from the house bud," Nick said, happy to have heard from his son. The boys never really called him just to check in on him anymore. "Can I do something for you kiddo?"

"I just wanted to talk to you," Noah said to his father. "Oh and Sara asked if you could get some pizza."

"Yeah I already got it," Nick said, laughing again. "I figured you guys hadn't eaten yet."

Nick also figured his wife wasn't very much in the mood for cooking. The general plan for dinner was that whichever adult was off for the day, or whoever got home first, was the one who cooked dinner. After years of marriage, he could read the tone of her voice and knew she was exhausted. And he wasn't exactly in the mood to get cooking when he arrived home.

"Wow, you're a mind reader," Noah joked as he gave his stepmother the thumbs up sign.

"I don't know about that," Nick admitted as he turned onto his street, with three boxes of pizza in the passenger seat. "If I could read minds, what would I be finding in your little brain about that history exam?"

Noah sighed and rolled his eyes. Parents. "Probably that I still need to do more," he said vaguely.

"Mmmhmmm," Nick agreed, having heard only vaguely what had been going on at the house earlier. He highly doubted that Noah had done any studying at all before Sara had gotten home. "I bet you do. I'll help you take a look at it after dinner."

Noah saw his father's car pulling into the driveway, so they said their goodbyes. "Dad's home!" He announced loudly, for everyone in the house to hear. A moment later, he heard Jordan and Colin running out of their rooms upstairs to greet their dad. Charlie wandered out also. He'd been up in his parents room since he'd gotten back using their laptop, since Brandon was being a jerk earlier.

"Oh, thank God," Sara mumbled to herself before she took another sip of her wine. It would be good to have the other adult in the house around to back her up.

The door opened, and Nick walked in with the pile of pizzas. Colin hitched onto his leg and Jordan pummeled him excitedly. "Daddy!"

Sara walked in to the room and saw Nick for the first time in a week and all of a sudden it was like when they'd first gotten married again. She rushed forward to his side and flung her arms around him, pulling him so close her face pressed into his neck. She hadn't realized just how much she had missed him until he was standing in front of her. "I missed you," she whispered in his ear, sidestepping so she didn't block Jordan or Colin in.

Nick handed the pizzas over to Charlie and told Noah to get out plates. Since it was after nine, and after the little ones bed time, they decided it would be a free-for-all supper and they wouldn't disturb anyone. There were four pizzas and even in a family as big as theirs that meant there would be plenty left over for Marley and Brandon if they woke up hungry in the middle of the night.

"Hey Dad," Brandon greeted him a few minutes later when he and Sara were sitting at the kitchen table eating their share of the pizza. Noah had taken the other kids outside to eat on the porch. It was a warm night and even through the haze of the city the stars were visible.

"Hey Brandon," he said, pointing to the pizza. "There's only one piece of sausage left. I had to fight the little ones off of it."

Brandon smiled and grabbed it. When he went to live with his mother he wouldn't have to worry about people taking all of his favorite pizza. "Dad, could I talk to you?" He realized he was thinking of terms of when and not if. He guessed his mind was already made up.

"Well Sara's got me right now," he winked at his son and grabbed Sara's hand, squeezing it. "And Noah said he has something to ask me but it should be quick. But then I'm all yours. Unless it's something simple..."

Nick knew it wasn't something simple, Brandon was using his 'big deal' tone. "No, I'll wait. You think you'll be able to talk to me in a half hour?"

"Sure bud," Nick said, looking at his watch to make sure he was available for his son by then. "If I'm not down in thirty minutes come get me. I'll stop whatever I'm doing."

"Thanks Dad," Brandon grabbed a second slice of pizza and headed back down stairs. Nick and Sara were finally alone sitting at the kitchen table. The kids were laughing and joking around outside, so Nick leaned in for a slow kiss. It was hard getting through the day not being able to kiss her, and hold her.

"Mmmm. I missed being able to do that," Sara whispered when they finally broke apart. They had never been apart from each other for a whole week since they'd been married.

"Me too," Nick agreed as he gave her another light kiss. "You know what else I missed doing?" He asked as he leaned into her ear and kissed just below it. Sara giggled and squirmed a little, only Nick's hand on the other side of her neck held her in place. She laughed out loud as he blew a raspberry on the side of her neck.

Sara playfully swatted his arm and pushed him away, causing Nick to flash his thousand-watt smile. "You jerk," she accused him, though her wide grin gave her away. Nick kissed her temple and pulled her back toward him.

"I know. But let's get the kids to bed soon so we can do it," he suggested, giving her a suggestive wink. Sara grinned and they exchanged another sweet kiss. Soon, everyone had finished dinner and brought their paper plates inside to throw away. Everyone was glad there were practically no dishes to clear up.

"Momma, I'm gonna take a piece of pizza up for Marley," Jordan announced, putting a piece on one of the paper plates for her sister. She was pretty sure her twin was asleep, but Marley was always glad to eat pizza.

"Okay, babe," Sara agreed, passing her a napkin. Jordan disappeared up the stairs with the plate. "Marley's been really good today, Nick." They were sure to point out occassions when their overly rambunctious child was well-behaved, because it was a rarity. "I've hardly heard a peep out of her."

Nick looked pleasantly surprised as he tossed his plate into the trash can. "Wow," he was a little shocked. "Maybe we should give her a little treat tomorrow."

Colin was practically falling asleep standing up, so Sara reached down and picked him up. "I'll take this one up to bed," she told her husband.

"Alright," he nodded. "Noah, why don't you go get your history book and bring it up to the table."

A minute later Noah reappeared in the kitchen and sat down across the table from Nick, handing him his study guide (which was surprisingly all filled out) and his text book. Nick flipped through it for a moment and then asked, "Okay son, what are the three branches of the US government?"

"The house of the executive branch, the legislative branch, and uhh... one other one," he said. "The uh..one with the president?"

"No, that's the executive branch," Nick told his son. "Think about my job and what I do only on a bigger scale and uh... not science?"

"Uh.. law," Noah answered. "Right... the judicial branch."

"Very good," Nick told his son. "This stuff's all pretty easy. It's just review right?"

"I guess," Noah said. Then he rolled his eyes as Nick started to scan for another question to ask him. "Dad why don't you and Sara just let us study on our own?"

"Because you learn better if you're learning interactively," Nick explained. Then he decided to take the opportunity to talk to him about his behavior towards his stepmother earlier. "Besides if we let you study by yourself you wouldn't get anything done. Sara mentioned your fight earlier. When you can keep your grades up by yourself you can have Allison over to study with you, otherwise no study dates understand?"

"Fine," Noah snapped. Allison was a better study buddy than his father.

"I mean it Noah, and you owe Sara an apology," Nick said sternly. "I don't think you realize how much it hurts her feelings when you act like that. How would you feel if she yelled in your face?"

Noah just stared back at him. Sometimes he hated how Nick was always on Sara's side. He was his son before Sara ever was his wife. "I mean it Noah, she does a lot for you kids. You know I was gonna say no Spring Break if you kids didn't get your attitudes in check but Sara convinced me that it wouldn't be fair not to let you go see your mom."

"So I can go?" he asked excitedly. "For the whole week?"

"If you want to, yeah."

Noah grinned, excited about that prospect of seeing his mother. He didn't realize Sara had stuck up for him with the whole Spring Break trip thing. Sometimes he lost sight that Sara wanted what was best for him. That was hard to see sometimes. Nick hoped the news would help with Noah's motivation towards school. Noah worked better when he had something to look forward to.

Nick and Noah continued along with their study session as Sara got Colin ready for bed. Charlie disappeared back into his parents' bedroom to use their laptop before he had to go to bed. No one thought anything of Marley not coming down for dinner. It was late, and her parents figured she'd just conked out. With the way she usually acted after being woken up, they decided letting her sleep was the best thing.

However, in the twins' room, Marley was far from asleep. Jordan had brought in a slice of pizza for her twin a few minutes before, which she was now eating slowly. She was starving, but she didn't dare come downstairs earlier to eat with the family. Marley whimpered when she moved her right wrist in a way that hurt. Earlier, when the girls were outside, they'd climbed the tree at the back of their lawn – the only tree in their yard, which happened to be next to a power line. Their parents forbade them to play on it. So, when Marley slipped and fell and hurt her wrist, the girls decided to keep it a secret in fear of getting in trouble.

"Does it still hurt?" Jordan asked her sister, eyeing Marley's now bruised right wrist. It wasn't looking very pretty, but as long as she wore long sleeves, they didn't think their parents would notice.

Marley nodded, the pain obvious by her facial expression. The little girl had never been good at tolerating pain. However, the threat of being in big trouble with her mom and dad was enough to keep her quiet. "I might need some more ice soon."

Jordan sighed, feeling bad about keeping a secret from her parents. They'd told her before that keeping the truth from them was the same thing as lying. Jordan hated lying to her parents. "Maybe we should tell Mommy and Daddy."

"Nooo." Marley countered, with a whine in her voice. "We'll get grounded for forever, or they'll take away TV. I bet it'll feel better tomorrow."

"Well Mommy and Daddy think you're sleeping so if they come in pretend okay? I'm gonna go brush my teeth and see where everyone is and sneak some more ice," Jordan said as she pulled her pj shirt over her head and smiled.

"While you're in there can you wet my toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it?" Marley asked her twin. "So they don't try to wake me up to brush?"

"I could bring it to you," Jordan offered.

"No, just go get me the ice," though her words were demanding her tone was polite. Marley loved her sister very much and was in too much pain to be mean. "Do you think I should take some Tylenol?"

"Not if Mommy and Daddy don't get it for you," Jordan said, sternly. "That's really bad. You could take too much and get really sick." Their parents had taught them never to touch medicine without a parent's help.

"Okay," Marley said to her sister, rolling over on her bed and laying down. She wanted to rub her arm but it hurt really, really, badly.

Jordan wandered in to the kitchen at the same time Brandon did but nobody noticed her as she went into the freezer for some more ice. Instead Brandon sat across the table from his father and started playing with a deck of cards he'd brought up with him. He dealt a couple of hands of poker, producing some Oreos and Goldfish crackers as currency from the snack jar on the table.

"Dad," Brandon said, a lot better at getting down to the point. "I was talking to Mom earlier and she said it was your idea that Noah and I lived with you and not her."

"Of course it was son," Nick said, honestly. "You don't think your mom would ever choose to have you boys so far away do you?"

"No, but why did you guys agree that we should stay here?" Brandon asked. He'd had an idea all along and his mother had said something about the twins but he really wanted an adult answer. "I mean…don't kids usually live with their moms?"

"Well it was because your mom and I and Sara all agreed that it would be good for you and your sisters to grow up together," Nick answered honestly. "And Colin too, when he came along. We wanted you to have a good relationship with them. They are your sisters and brother after all."

"Yea, but…" he leaned back in his chair, trying to think of how to word his thoughts, "it's not fair that Mom never sees us. I mean, we're her kids. I love you guys, and I love Marley and Jordan and Colin, but I love Mom too," he managed to get out.

Nick watched his son's body language and just listened. It wasn't often that Brandon had frank conversations with him, so he was sure to pay attention when he did. Too much of their communication was lost in the translation from teen to adult.

"I, uh…I talked to Mom today," Brandon admitted as he fidgeted with his cards. "We talked about visiting over Spring Break, but. Well…I've always wondered what it would be like to live with Mom," he blurted before he could talk himself out of it. Brandon finally looked up at his father to gauge his reaction. Surprisingly, Nick didn't look hurt or shocked even. It was like he kind of knew it was coming.

"Yeah?" Nick questioned. Brandon nodded, maintaining eye contact with his dad. Nick could tell how important this was to his son. "I can understand that, Brand. I really can. You have a right to be around your mom. And unfortunately, we live in different states so that hasn't been possible, you know?"

"Yeah…I know," he nodded, figuring his father was going to turn this into a 'this is where you belong' type conversation.

"You're sixteen," Nick stated, "You've been living with me for six years, and I've loved that. And all your brothers and sisters love that. But you're right that you're missing out with your mother. You have a right to live with her if you want to."

Brandon was silent for several prolonged moments, letting his father's words sink in. Somehow he knew that his dad would understand him about this subject. They didn't always agree on everything, but Brandon knew he was an understanding person. Nick knew that having a good relationship with his mother was important.

"So…what are you saying?" Brandon checked.

Nick rested his linked fingers on top of his head and leaned back in his chair. "I'm saying it's up to you, bud. If you wanna try living with your mom, I have no right to stop you. That's your choice. I just want you to think about it, okay? And make sure it's what you really want."

Nick looked at his son for a moment wishing that he was still the same little kid he was even a few years ago. Brandon had grown up on him and Nick had to admit he hated it. Telling his son it was his choice if he stayed with them in Las Vegas was the hardest thing he had ever had to do, other than signing the divorce papers with Kathleen eight years before. More than anything he knew that Sara probably wouldn't forgive him if Brandon left.

Brandon and Noah were Sara's babies just the same as any of the other children and he felt sure that of the three parents both of his sons had, she was the one who still loved them just like they were babies. Not in the sense that she didn't trust them or find them responsible but in the sense that no matter what they ever said or did she would always be able to look at them and see them as they were when they were first learning how to walk. He would be crushed if Brandon left but so would the rest of his family too, and his wife would be beyond devastated.

"Well Dad I have thought about it a lot," Brandon said. "And as much as I love it here I keep thinking about everything I'm going to miss out on with Mom if I don't at least live with her for a little while." He paused for a second. "I want to go."

Jordan, who was by now crouched behind the fridge in the kitchen had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out. Brandon was leaving? She watched and listened for a couple more minutes until Nick and Brandon both left the room, both in the direction of their own bedrooms. Her dad had said that if that was what Brandon wanted he would do what he could to help him. She thought he was being stupid.

Her first reaction was to want to run up stairs and tell Marley exactly what she'd heard, right away, but she realized that was probably a bad idea. It hurt, really badly, and it was really scary if Brandon was really leaving. Marley's arm was hurt and she didn't need any more aches until that was better. She grabbed a cup full of ice and a fresh rag out of the drawer next to the stove and started to head back up stairs. She just didn't know how she was going to keep it a secret.

Nick had since disappeared up the stairs and into the master bathroom to brush his teeth. Sara was already in their bedroom talking to Charlie. He had been M.I.A. most of the afternoon and evening, but Sara knew he sometimes just preferred it that way. It wasn't uncommon for Charlie to be found alone somewhere in the house, looking for a little solace. Nick decided to give them another minute alone, and he walked to the girls' room to check on them. He knocked first, and heard Jordan's little voice tell him to come in.

Nick walked in and saw that Marley was already curled up in her bed, her eyes shut tightly. He suspected she wasn't actually asleep, but pretending for some reason, but as long as she was tucked up in bed, he wasn't going to disturb her. One night of not brushing her teeth wouldn't cause her tooth decay. Nick did notice, however, that Jordan looked worried.

"Did you already brush your teeth darlin'?" He asked Jordan as he walked over to her bed. She was already in her pajamas, ready to be tucked in. Jordan nodded wordlessly as he gently tugged her by the arm towards the bed to stand in front of him. She was really upset after hearing Brandon may be leaving, but she wasn't supposed to be down there, really. "You okay?" He gently rubbed her arm, hoping she would calm down and open up to him.

"Yeah, I'm okay Daddy," she lied softly. There were lots of things wrong at the moment, but she couldn't tell him. She wasn't supposed to hear them talking about Brandon leaving, and she didn't want to tell him about Marley's wrist. Well, she kind of did want to tell him about Marley, but she was her twin, and she promised not to.

"You look a little worried, baby," he acknowledged. The little kids were so easy to read when something was bothering them. It had been a really long day for her, however, and Nick was looking forward to crawling into his own bed with Sara for the first time in a week. "Are you just tired?"

Jordan decided to latch onto that excuse, so she nodded quickly. "I wanna go to bed," she mumbled tiredly, rubbing at her eyes for effect. Nick nodded and kissed her forehead as he pulled her covers back.

"In you go," he gently told her, guiding her in and under the covers. Once she was settled, he pulled the covers up to her chin and knelt down next to her bed. "I love you, sweet pea. Have a good sleep."

"Love you, Daddy," she told him back. Nick gave her one last kiss on the cheek and then turned off her bedside lamp. He quietly left the room and walked to his own bedroom.

Before Nick had a chance to say anything to Charlie about heading down to his own room for the night the ten year old hopped up from his spot on the bed next to his mother and dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks Mom," he said and then quickly headed for the door. "Night Nick."

Nick felt a little frosted out by how quickly Charlie left the room. He hadn't seen him in a week and the boy was just avoiding him as he had been before he'd left. Nick scowled a bit as he walked through the bedroom towards his bathroom, shedding his t-shirt in the process. He brushed his teeth vigorously as he thought about his sons and how frustrating they'd been lately. Colin was quickly becoming his favorite boy.

Sara came up behind him and put a hand on his lower back as she leaned in to him and slowly ran her arms around his middle, hugging him from behind. If he hadn't smelled her as she approached, that sexy Sara scent, he would have been startled by her touch. "You're really tense," she observed, dropping kisses on his bare back.

He gargled, grunted, and finally had to spit before he could answer her. "The boys," he admitted, "they've been giving me a run for my money lately."

"Teenagers do have a habit of doing that," she commented back to him, gently. "They'll grow out of it eventually. We just have to wait for them on the other side."

"Noah and Charlie aren't teenagers yet," Nick complained, almost whining.

"Haven't you heard?" Sara asked him, rubbing his back. "Ten's the new thirteen!"

Nick spun around and looked her in the eyes, almost telling her what Brandon had asked him earlier. Something about the way she looked though, standing there, loving him... he couldn't do it. Instead he dropped a passionate kiss on her lips, holding on until he couldn't breathe anymore. "God, I love you," he said through gasps for air.

"Wow..." Sara said, breathing in deeply, "wh-what was that for?"

At first, Nick was almost offended that Sara was demanding a reason for kissing her. They were husband and wife, life partners, lovers, parents to six children, and she wanted a reason for kissing her like that? Nick realized he was probably just frustrated after a long week without his gorgeous wife.

Nick gently nudged his nose against his wife's and then kissed her gently again before answering, "I missed you," he whispered, gazing into her eyes. Sara's eyes sparkled back at him.

"I missed you too," she admitted, running a hand over one of his still sculpted biceps. "I didn't realize a week could be such a long time."

Nick nodded slowly in agreement as he just took in the sight, the smell of his wife. It seemed whenever they were separated…even as little as a day…when they came back together, their feelings sparked like they were newlyweds. Things he usually didn't think twice about, and didn't notice, like the faint freckles on her shoulders, the smell of her hair…it caught him off guard how much it made him love her. He fell in love with her all over again. Sometimes he didn't understand how he could even breathe around her.

He let his hands fall down to sit on her waist as he began kissing her wantonly again. There was no rush – they took their time re-exploring each other's lips as Nick's fingers dashed under her tank top. Soon, all their clothing was shed and they were together, on the bed, reconnecting after a long, trying week.

A while later, Brandon wandered up the basement stairs. Charlie was in the downstairs bathroom, and Noah was in the ground floor bathroom, probably trying to get some privacy to talk to Allison on the phone. The house was dark, which meant his parents had probably gone to bed for the evening. They'd been apart for a week, so they probably couldn't keep their freaking hands off each other.

As Brandon began to climb the stairs up to the top floor, where the bathroom was hopefully unoccupied, he heard a tiny sound coming from the kitchen. His first thought was that there was a burgalar in the house, so he stopped dead in his tracks. Ever so slowly, he turned in his place and gingerly stepped down the two stairs he'd already climbed, back towards the kitchen. The broom happened to be sitting out in the corner, so he grabbed it to protect himself if need be. He turned the corner, wielding the broom, and turned the light switch on at the same time.

Jordan was so frightened she couldn't make a sound. She just stood, her mouth wide open, staring up at her older brother. In one hand, she held an ice pack. "Jesus, Jordan!" Brandon whispered harshly. "What are you doing here this time of night?"

"I-I-I," Jordan stammered, then looking down at the cup full of ice she had in her hand she looked up at her older brother and said, "wanted some ice."

"Whyyy?" Brandon asked, coming forward to his little sister. He picked her up and sat her on the counter next to the sink, taking the ice from her hands. He poured it into the rag she had draped over it and twisted it up gently. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"No," she said, not looking him in the eyes. "I'm fine."

He didn't believe her and began searching her small body. He checked her head, knees, arms, legs, back but didn't find any sign of damage or bruising. Then it had hit him like a ton of bricks. If Jordan was the one down stairs looking for ice that must have meant that she wasn't the one that was hurt... "Marley!" he said and quickly turned, ice in hand, and ran for the stairs.

Poor Jordan was still a little frightened of jumping off of the counter without a step and yelled "Brandon come get me down!" He was gone from sight though. Finally she bit her lip and pushed off, landing hard on the floor but much to her surprise and pleasure, perfectly okay.

Brandon heard the faint sound of his baby sister trying not to cry from the hallway before he'd even come into the room. She was laying in bed on her back, clutching her stuffed lamb and biting down on her blanket as she tried not to sob. He rushed forward and sat on the bed next to her, "Marley what happened?"

A while ago, Marley would have resisted telling anyone something was wrong, but the pain was getting so bad, she decided Brandon was a safe person to tell. He was almost an adult, after all, and she could get in trouble with him. She choked on a sob before beginning.

"I...I fell out of the tree earlier and my wrist hurts really bad!" She complained, and the relief of it all – of telling someone besides Jordan made a fresh wave of tears come. Brandon reached over and turned on her bedside lamp so he could survey the damage just as Jordan came back into the room. She shut the door behind her, because this was still supposed to be a secret.

Brandon gently guided her arm out from under the covers, and his mouth dropped at the sight of her bruised wrist. He didn't see how she could've gone all this time with what looked to be a broken wrist without telling anyone. Well, Jordan didn't count. They always kept each other's secrets, which was sometimes a good thing, but at times like this threatened Marley's well-being.

"Marley, I think you broke your wrist," Brandon informed his little sister gently, as he tenderly rubbed her tiny forearm to comfort her. "You need to go to the hospital."

Marley's eyes widened, "Nooo. Just get me some Tylenol. It's just a bruise." She argued. This argument had worked with her twin sister, because she didn't know any better, but Brandon could see this was more than a simple bruise.

"No, Mar. This is serious," he told her firmly, but still gently, looking her in the eye. "We need to go get Mom and Dad."

Brandon stood up, but Marley grasped his shirt sleeve with her good hand. "Doooon't!" she begged him. "They'll be really mad at me, and Megan's having a birthday party on Saturday and I really wanna go, and they won't let me if they know I climbed in the tree!" She rambled, obviously worried about the wrong things. Brandon sighed and shook his head, wondering how on earth she thought she could keep hiding this from their parents.

"They're not gonna be so concerned about you disobeying them when they see you broke your wrist," he pointed out. "They don't want you walking around with a broken bone, Marley. That's ridiculous. They just want you healthy."

He didn't listen to her protests as he picked her up, as gently as possible, and started carrying her towards the bedroom. He couldn't believe that Marley had been sitting up in her room for hours with a broken arm and the rest of the family had been preoccupied with their lives to even notice. There could be serious complications to not treating a broken bone. Then, a very childish fear crept up on him. What if she had to have it amputated? She wouldn't need that, for sure.

He knocked on his parents bedroom door and waited until Nick grunted a dissatisfied "what?"

"Dad can I come in?" Brandon asked and when he heard his father confirm he walked in to the dark room and crossed to the bed.

When Sara saw that Brandon was cradling one of the twins in his arms as he came in she was immediately concerned. "Brandon what's going on."

Marley clutched her older brother's neck and sobbed. "Don't let go of me," she begged. Brandon readjusted her slightly so he could keep hold of her.

"I think her wrist is broken," he informed them as both parents sat up in bed. Sara turned on the bedside lamp so she could see what was wrong. "She fell out of the tree."

"Set her down," Nick requested, because Marley was squirming away from them a little bit. She didn't want them touching her wrist, and she didn't like everyone looking at her wondering what was wrong. Marley whimpered and protested slightly as Brandon set her on the bed, right next to Sara. She gently balanced Marley's elbow in her hand so she could get a good look at her wrist.

"Mommy, I'm sorry," Marley immediately apologized, thinking her parents would be upset with her, "I'm not s'sposed to climb the tree but I was bored and…"

"Ssshhh, shhhh," Sara told her immediately, stroking her hair. "Baby, we're not mad. We just need to get you to the hospital."

Nick had since gotten out of bed and went to the closet to find some jeans and a t-shirt. He quickly slipped them on and walked over to Sara's side of the bed. "C'mere, baby," Nick gently cooed to her as he very carefully scooped her up into his arms. "We'll get you fixed."

"Brandon!" Marley called as her father began carrying her out of the room. "I want Brandon!" She of course loved her father, and felt safe with him, but for some reason at this moment, Marley just wanted her big brother. He was the one that was rescuing her, in her eyes.

Sara rushed to the closet also to throw on some jeans and a t-shirt over her pajamas. At the same time, she began giving Brandon instructions. "Dad and I are gonna take her to the hospital, so I need you to stay here in case the other kids need anything," she explained as she pulled a t-shirt over her head.

"Mommy, I wanna go!" Jordan immediately protested, wanting to be with her sister. She had, after all, seen her twin through her injury up until now, diligently bringing her ice when she needed it. She'd even sung her some songs to get her to calm down.

"No, Jordan. You need to stay here," Sara told her.

"Have Noah watch the kids, because I need to come with you," Brandon decided.

Nick looked like he was going to protest and tell Brandon that his place was at home with the littler children but hadn't they just discussed how Brandon was old enough to make adult decisions? Nick, who had his daughter in his arms, leaned forward and let Brandon hold Marley. As soon as she was in her brother's arms her sobbing dissipated into a low whimper.

Sara gave Nick a look that hid so many things. Noah wasn't old enough for this kind of responsibility. It was a school night, so he'd need his rest. What if something else happened? Should Nick undermine her that way with Brandon? "Sara you and Brandon go pull the car around, I'll be out in a sec."

Nick walked down stairs and found Noah in the bathroom. "Bud come on out here," he said. Noah looked like he'd just got caught doing something very bad. "Hang up the phone," Nick told him, and he didn't protest. "I'm not gonna get on you about talkin on the phone after nine this time but that's cuz I need a favor. Marley's got a broken wrist and we need to take her to the hospital. Can you hold down the fort?"

"Yeah," Noah said, obviously scared. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"She'll be fine bud," Nick told his son. "Thanks."

"What about Brandon?" Noah asked, already heading to find Jordan, knowing he was going to have to calm her down. "Why isn't he on toddler patrol?"

"He's gonna go with us," Nick said. "Thanks a bunch Noah."

As he was about to sneak out the garage door, he felt a tug on his shirt. He turned around to see Jordan, her eyes welled up with tears. "Daddy, I wanna go with Marley. What if she needs my twin power?" She pointed out. Whenever either of the girls had a minor boo boo, the girls had invented "twin power", a make-believe healing mechanism that seemed to calm them down.

Nick picked his little girl up quickly and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Jordan, I know you wanna be with your sister right now, but it's best if you stay here. The doctor needs to fix her, and it's easier with less people around. You can see her when she gets back, okay?"

"Daddy…" she was about to burst into tears. Nick felt torn. He hated leaving Jordan upset, but Marley needed to get to the hospital quickly.

"Sweetheart, I know it's hard. I need you to be a brave girl for me right now. Can you do that?"

Jordan rubbed at her eyes and looked at her father. She liked to do things that made him proud and helped him out, so his words managed to convince her. A couple kisses and a hug later, Nick was able to successfully leave Jordan with Noah and make a quick exit into the garage.

Brandon very carefully loaded Marley into the car, making sure he didn't jostle her wrist. She whimper-cried as he buckled her in. "It's okay, Mar. You're gonna be okay."

"It huuuuurts," she moaned, frustrated by the pain.

Brandon quickly raced around to the other side of the car and got in, then took her good hand in his. "I know it hurts, but they're gonna fix it for you real soon. You've just gotta be brave, and take deep breaths, and hold my hand."

Marley nodded and fought to compose herself. She focused on feeling her big brother's hand clasped around hers as her mommy and daddy both buckled up. Sara backed out of the garage fast, anxious to get her whimpering child to the hospital.

As they headed down the block of their street, Brandon kept his eyes focused on his little sister, wishing he could somehow do something else to help her. For now, she seemed to be able to cope as long as she could hold his hand. He couldn't think of what to do, so he started singing to her. He sang one of the songs he'd made up himself to his guitar. Marley looked over at him and just listened.

Brandon couldn't help but think about the what ifs, like he was turning into a parent. What if he hadn't come up the stairs when he had? Or what if he'd been paying attention more earlier, instead of selfishly thinking about the way his own life was heading? Brandon closed his eyes for a moment and just composed himself. All that mattered was that he was here with Marley now, when she needed him most. But what if, he wondered, he moved away to Seattle and she needed him again?

_A/N 2: Sooo…here's where we need your opinion. Should Brandon and Noah move to Seattle? Just Brandon? Or no one at all? Please share your thoughts!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: So, uh…sorry this is so epic! We had lots of ideas for this chapter, so it got quite lengthy! Hopefully, it's more for you to enjoy! We decided to change Warrick and Cath's kids' names. And yes, we realize that Molly Brown was the lady from Titanic, but we like the name. Thanks so much to those who have read and reviewed so far! This is the last chapter in this "time frame", so next time the kids will be older!_

Jordan rummaged through her closet, searching through clothes, shoes, and discarded toys to find what she was looking for. Really, she and Marley needed to clean out their closet, but of course she wasn't going to unless her parents made her. Cleaning was not her number one priority as a five year old. Finally, as she moved a stray flip flop aside, she found it. A Burger King crown. Jordan picked it up and tried to straighten it out the best she could.

"Hey, Coliiiin!" She called to her now three year old little brother. Today was Colin's third birthday, but unfortunately he was a little upset, thanks to Marley. The little boy whimpered a little in the next room, cuddling in his mother's arms after being through a little incident. Jordan took the crown with her and scurried into the room next door, where Colin was still looking a little upset, but otherwise unharmed.

Sara dramatically gasped, hoping to get Colin excited, and not thinking about the little bruise that was forming on his head. She jiggled the boy a little bit and pointed at the crown her daughter had found. "Look, Colin," she said gently, resting her chin on the top of his head. "Look what Jordan found."

Colin rubbed at his eyes a little bit and considered the offering. He'd long since lost any Burger King crown he'd acquired, and it was his birthday after all. Birthday boys should have crowns. Colin reached out with his still slightly pudgy toddler arm, and let out a little sound, universal for "gimme".

Jordan happily crossed the room and stood in front of her brother. "Here, Colin. Let me put it on you," she offered. Colin allowed her to, and she fit it on his head snugly. "Look, Mom, it's King Colin!"

Sara grinned and picked Colin up to stand. "Thank you, Jordan. That was very nice of you," she praised her. With her twin girls, it was seriously like Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde. Marley was constantly either tormenting someone or being generally mischievous, and Jordan was always looking out for others. Sara was thankful to have Jordan and her kindness around, especially when Marley's jealousy reared its ugly head.

Sara kissed the top of her youngest son's head. "Here. Why don't you take Colin into the bathroom so he can look at his crown in the mirror," she suggested, setting Colin on the ground. Jordan nodded in agreement and gently took her brother's hand, leading him towards the bathroom. The mother of six watched them go and let out an exhausted sigh, putting her hands on her hips. Already she was tired, and it was only ten in the morning.

She walked towards the master bedroom where Marley, the culprit, was sitting in time out. Nick had been keeping an eye on her as he brushed his teeth and shaved in the master bathroom. As she entered the room, she saw Nick poke his head out the door to check on their ornery five year old. He saw that Sara had come in and raised his eyebrows at his wife, as if to say, _I don't know what to do with this one_.

Sara gave him an exhausted look and walked to where Marley sat in their chair. If they'd been hoping for remorse, they weren't getting it. Marley sat in the chair with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. With a sigh, Sara knelt down in front of her daughter to address her.

"Marley, do you have anything to say?" Sara prompted her.

Marley narrowed her eyes at her and shook her head no.

"Well, I guess you need to stay in time out for another five minutes," she decided, and began to stand up.

"Nooooo…." Marley whined a little.

"Then I need to hear an explanation," Sara went on. "Why did you hit your little brother on the head with your cast?"

Marley looked very thoughtful for a few moments, biting her lip as she tried to come up with a good reason for hitting her little brother. Finally, she looked up and said, "Well it's because you have to give someone birthday hits so they grow? One for every year and then one for good luck!" She paused a moment to see if her mother was buying it. "I thought my cast would be even better?"

"Marley we don't hit," Sara admonished her little girl gently. "You know better."

"Mama it was an accident. I didn't mean to hit him," Marley's story changed a little bit. She was by far the sneakiest one of the family but also one of the worst liars. She couldn't ever stick to a story. Jordan, who rarely used the skill, could fool anyone if she wanted to. "I swear it. I didn't mean to."

"We don't swear either," Sara interjected and then frowned down at her. It was Colin's birthday. Why couldn't Marley be good for just one day? "You're off the hook for today because it's your brother's birthday but first thing tomorrow you're grounded for three days. No TV, no playing outside, no friends. Just homework and your AR books."

"But," Marley tried to protest. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You hit your brother and then lied about the reason. That's one day for hitting and two for lying," Sara told her gently. "Now if you tell me the truth right now about why you hit your brother I'll shorten it to a day."

"Okay," Marley sighed like a teenager. Sara shuddered a little at the thought of Marley as a teen. "He was singin' a song 'bout swimmin' and I can't go later... and it made me mad. I don't see why I have to have this stupid cast or why I can't go swimmin'. I should get to have fun too."

Sara understood her daughter's frustration with having a cast. She really did. Everyone knew that little kids were full of energy, but Marley was like a cyclone. She didn't slow down (until she totally conked out), and having this cast on was like torture. Sara wished she could magically cure her arm and get her back to normal, but there was no magic pill.

"Marley, remember what the doctor said," Sara gently reminded her. "The cast helps your bones stay in place while it heals. You have to keep it on, and you can't get it wet."

"But I don't like it," she whined as she twisted her arm around, as if to prove her point. Marley didn't seem to realize that her parents had no control over whether she had a cast or not. It had to stay on, and that was all there was to it.

"I know you don't," Sara placed her hands on her daughter's knees in understanding. "But that's how it is. You need to be a big girl and keep going. Can you do that?"

"Maybe," she said, looking thoughtful again. "Am I done with time out yet?"

Sara smirked at her little hellion and nodded. "Yes, but first you need to go apologize to Colin. And I'll only ground you for a day since you told me the truth."

"Yes, ma'aaaaam," she agreed as she stood up. After giving her mother a quick hug she scurried off towards Colin's bedroom to tell him sorry. Truthfully, she knew it was a bad idea to hit her brother, but sometimes she just had trouble controlling herself. Besides, he was just a little wimpy kid and couldn't handle a little tap on the forehead. He was just a baby.

Back in the master bedroom, Sara sighed as she stood up and Nick walked out of the bathroom drying his face with a hand towel. "I have to admit, smacking Colin in the head with her cast was pretty creative, and kind of funny," he admitted.

Sara chuckled as she walked towards him and wound her arms around his middle to sit on his rear end. "Don't say that too loud, or the kids are gonna walk all over us."

Nick flashed a grin and leaned down to kiss her. Sara happily obliged, and they slowly shared a sweet, sensual kiss. They'd never had time as just a couple, both having children of their own before this marriage, so they had to steal time whenever they could. Both were enjoying their lip locking when they heard someone clear their throat from the doorway. The mother and father turned their heads to see Noah, looking a bit creeped out.

"Uh…Dad, can I talk to you?" He asked, averting his eyes. Seeing his father and stepmother making out wasn't exactly a pleasant sight.

"Sure, man. What do you need?" He asked, stepping away from his wife.

"Well, I was wondering if maybe Allison could come over to Aunt Catherine and Uncle Warrick's with me?" He asked slightly timidly, because he knew this was Colin's party. Only, Brandon had been getting more serious with Molly Brown, and they were both going to be at the party, obviously. If his brother got to mack on his girl, he should get to also.

"I don't have a problem with it, as long as you behave," he raised his eyebrows at him, knowing how his boys could be. "And you better call your aunt and uncle and make sure it's okay."

Noah looked a bit relieved and nodded. "Okay. Thanks Dad." He was gone in a flash.

Nick smiled and couldn't help but laugh a little at his son. He wandered back over to his wife's side and kissed her cheek gently. "He really likes that Allison girl."

"He does," Sara smiled and then after a moment of thought she asked, "And Brandon and Molly are well on their way to being serious, I think."

"Serious?" Nick feigned surprise. "Brandon Stokes actually being serious about someone?"

"Stranger things have happened," Sara said with a laugh. "Like Sara Sidle finding not one but two men in her life that she cared for enough to marry."

"That was just Charles and I both being lucky," Nick said, but became more preoccupied with talking about his son. "So you really think they're that into each other? I mean I know that they've been getting more serious... but _serious _serious?"

"Well he has been in love with her since she was two weeks old," Sara said, remembering the day that a barely year old Brandon had first met baby Molly in the lab.

"I don't want to see either of them end up heartbroken," Nick said. "It could go either way."

"I don't either," Sara didn't sound worried about that. Her tone shifted and she said, "But I also don't want them to end up pregnant."

Nick cleared his throat uncomfortably and ran his palm over his recently washed hair. "There are two types of people who don't have sex, Sara. Your parents, and your children."

Sara rolled her eyes at him and patted him supportively on the chest. He was one of the most protective fathers she'd ever known, wanting to shield his kids from all the bad things in life. If he was like this with Brandon, a son, she didn't want to think about how he'd be like with Marley and Jordan when they started dating. A chastity belt was probably not out of the realm of possibility. "Just because you don't want to believe Brandon may be having sex, doesn't mean it can't happen," she reminded him. "Maybe you need to have another little talk with him."

Having the talk with Brandon back when he was twelve was painful to say the least. He didn't want to think about his little boy being interested in girls and doing…that. But at the same time, he knew that as a young boy, he'd started having thoughts at about that age, and acting on them just a few years later.

Nick whined, putting Marley's theatrics to shame, as Sara steered him towards the door. "Nick, I'm sure he's being safe, but I think you'll feel better giving him a refresher course. Be a man and do it."

Reluctantly, Nick walked down the stairs as Sara checked on Colin and the girls. He found Charlie and Noah both on the couch, watching television. It was likely something he wouldn't want them watching, as Noah immediately switched the channel when he saw his father coming. Nick looked at the TV and saw they were apparently watching a Discovery Channel special on meerkats. He gave them both a little look. "Feet off the table please," he told Charlie. "Where's Brandon?"

Charlie did as he was told, and Nick noticed he was looking a little glum. "In our room," he answered.

Nick knew that going to a three year old's birthday party wasn't exactly a treat, and if memory served him right, Charlie wasn't bringing a friend along. All the older kids had permission to bring one friend along with them (the girls loved playing with all Colin's little friends, and the Stokes feared more little girls would cause problems). "Are you bringing anyone to the party, bud?"

He shrugged and kept his eyes on the television. Sometimes, Charlie didn't think Nick understood him because both his boys were popular, and he'd been popular all throughout school. They didn't get that no one wanted to come with him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Well, you can still call someone if you want," he reminded his stepson as he walked towards the basement to talk to his oldest.

"Brandon?" Nick called as he was on the way down the stairs. How exactly did you have a sex talk with a sixteen year old?

"Down here," he heard his son call. As Nick came into the room Brandon was buttoning his shirt. Actually, it was one of Nick's dress shirts. He was wearing it buttoned partially with a "Does this shirt look okay?"

"Lose the khaki's and try a pair of jeans," Nick advised his son. "You wanna look like you're at a party not going to church."

"Thanks Dad," Brandon grabbed a pair of jeans and started changing. When he realized that his father wasn't leaving the room he looked up, "Oh right. What did you want?"

"Well actually Brand I kinda wanted to talk," Nick said, taking a seat on Charlie's bottom bunk. "Uh... because... well because you're kinda getting close with Molly. I just wanted to know if you had any questions."

"You mean like about sex? Or like... about relationships?" Brandon asked. It almost looked to Nick like his son might be wondering about the latter. "Because we had the sex talk already. I understand all of that. I shouldn't have sex before I'm married, but if I do use protection. But like... it's the other stuff I have some questions about."

"Right. Well it's important," Nick said, feeling better already. "What do you want to know?"

"Uh... well... if you're pretty sure you really care about a girl... how do you tell her?"

Nick wished that after so many years on this earth, he could tell his son, with expert advice, exactly how to tell a girl you care about her. But, it wasn't that simple. There were feelings, different situations, different people…it was an endless continuation of variations. Plus…they were women. Who knew what they really thought?

"Well, bud," he scratched the back of his head a little bit. "The best I can tell you is just be honest with her. Tell her what you like about her – is she funny? Sweet? Great personality? And you have to be genuine about it, because women can see right through you if you're not. And don't push for her to say anything back. Just let it be."

Nick rambled a little bit, and when he looked up at Brandon, he looked slightly confused, but thoroughly engrossed. He found that even as teenagers, his kids practically begged him to tell them how to do the right thing. They wanted to know how to do it right, and they truly thought he knew all the answers. By now, Brandon had figured out that his father didn't know everything there was to know, but he still trusted him enough to seek advice from him.

"Um, alright," he said, sounding a bit unsure of himself still.

Nick smirked at him. "There's no right or wrong way, Brand. You just have to say what feels right, and just go with it. You know what I mean?"

Brandon nodded and looked over at him. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Dad. It's just – I've gone out with a lot of girls, you know? But I've never felt this way about any of them. You'd think I'd have all the lines and right words figured out by now."

"You're only sixteen, man. You've still got a lot of learning to do," Nick confessed. "Just promise me that if you do start getting urges…you talk long and hard about it. Make sure it's the right time for both of you, and especially for her. Because Uncle Warrick will kick your ass, and Aunt Catherine will help hide the body. And use protection. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, Dad. I got it," he said, getting up, hoping to end the conversation. Just then, they heard a pounding on the bedroom door.

"Daddyyyy!!" It was Jordan, and if they weren't mistaken, Marley was with her, singing a song at the top of her lungs now.

"Girls, I'm talking to Brandon right now. I'll be right out," he called to them. As a father of six, it always seemed that someone needed him. Brandon smirked at him and picked up his iPod and buds.

"I'm fine, Dad. I'll just chill in here until we're ready for the party if that's cool," he said as he laid down on his bed.

"Sure. I might need your help with the little ones later though, if you don't mind," Nick said as he stood up. Miraculously, the boys' room was pretty clean today, so he didn't have to hound them about picking it up.

The girls had been waiting patiently outside the boys' door, sitting on the steps. "Can I help you?" Nick asked them, their identical eyes looking up at him.

"Mommy said for you to help us get ready for the party," Jordan told him. He noticed both of them had a bathing suit in their hands and sunscreen. They were certainly old enough to dress themselves, but Sara had purchased the most complicated bathing suits, with lots of little straps and openings. Sometimes he couldn't even figure it out.

"Alright, let's go up to your room," he told them.

"You ask him," he heard Marley whisper to her twin as they followed him up the stairs to their room.

"No, you do it," Jordan whispered back. Nick sometimes loved how bad they still were at keeping their voices down. "It was your idea."

"You do it," and Nick heard the unmistakable sound of Marley pinching her sister as hard as she could. Surprisingly Jordan didn't cry out in pain.

Jordan had realized that keeping Marley's hurt arm a secret for as long as she had was a very bad thing and felt like her twin's cast was completely her fault. Nick knew that the guilt had her being as accepting of Marley's teasing as possible. "Girls what's going on?"

They stopped in their room and Marley pushed the door closed behind them. Nick, for a moment, saw a teenage version of his little girl slamming the door on him, him on the other side. He wasn't looking forward to that. "Jordan wants to ask you something."

Jordan set her bathing suit down on her bed and smoothed it out. "No, Marley wants to."

"Chicken," Marley said.

Nick started brushing through Marley's hair and trying to pull it into a ponytail, "girls neither one of you is going to know the answer if you don't tell me."

They were silent for a while until it was Jordan's turn to have her hair done. She took a deep breath as he was brushing, "Daddy, why do girls have boobies?"

Ignoring the fact that they'd just spent the last fifteen minutes with their mother, who possessed said 'boobies', Nick wasn't sure why he looked like he would know a good way to answer it. They taught this kind of stuff in fifth grade didn't they? And why couldn't they ask Sara?

He sighed and kept his eyes focused on the ponytail he was making for Jordan. Daughters…they could be so cute, and then they had to go say something like that? At least they weren't asking him about sex.

"Why do you ask that?" Nick posed to both of them.

Marley was watching her sister get her hair brushed and shrugged her shoulders. "I heard Brandon talkin' on the phone to Molly an' he said he liked her boobies," she blurted. If Brandon knew what his little sister had just told their father, she'd never see the light of day again. "What are they for?"

Nick pursed his lips together to keep from laughing out loud. That wasn't what he was expecting, but it sure explained a lot.

"Well, when you're a mommy, that's just something you, uh…need," Nick tried to explain without going into detail. He should've known they'd ask even more questions.

"But why?" Jordan asked. "And why don't little girls have 'em?"

"Well, only big girls have 'em," Nick said as he tied the twisty elastic around her dark brown hair. "Maybe this is a better question for Mommy, girls."

"Cause she has boobies?" Marley asked. It amazed Nick how unembarrassed they seemed about it now, throwing around the word booby like it was the word shoe, or house.

Nick chuckled a little bit. "Exactly. She'll be able to tell you more, but I think she's busy with Colin right now," he reminded them. "Let's get your bathing suits on."

Both girls began taking off their regular clothes so their dad could help them put on the complicated swimming suits. Nick knew he'd had enough when both girls examined their chests. "Daddy, are these little boobies?"

Nick stood up then, "Um, I'm gonna go get Mommy to finish changing you, okay? You sit tight, and she'll come answer all your questions."

Nick went across the hall and asked Sara to trade children with him. He was helping Colin tie the string on his swim trunks when he heard his cell phone ring from his pocket. Looking down he realized it was Kathleen calling. He told Colin he'd be right back to help him and left the room to answer.

"Nicky, it's not a bad time is it?" She asked.

"Well it's my son's birthday," he said, a little frustrated. "I'm trying to get him ready to head over to Cath and Warrick's house for the party."

"He's three now?" Kathleen asked. "He sure is growing up. I've actually got a gift for him. I'm in Vegas, can I come over?"

"Now?" He asked. "Right now?"

"Well, no time like the present?" She said. "C'mon Nick, Jared and I are in town to see the boys and I'd like to say happy birthday to Colin. We're family."

"You can come over and ride to the party with us if you want," Nick finally conceded. "And who's Jared?"

"Jared Keller," she told him, beaming. "You remember him? He's living up near me now. I ran into him at the supermarket and we've been together ever since. Funny how that works out huh?"

"Jared Keller?!" Nick wasn't as happy for her as she seemed to be. "Kathleen, I coached his little league team! What's he like seventeen?"

"He's twenty-five Nick, not a child. I'm not asking for your permission." She almost sounded angry with him. "Why can't you be happy for me? We've been divorced long enough now, when are we going to be friends again?"

"You know," Nick said, trying to think of a good response. "I try to be your friend Kathleen. I mean we were married. But you make it awful hard."

"And how do you think I felt when you got together with Sara?" Kathleen shot back. "And how do you think I feel about my own sons living a thousand miles away from me, and not getting to see them grow up, huh? How is that fair for me?"

When they fought, Kathleen always used that card. Of course it sucked that she didn't get to see her boys, but he hadn't forced her to move to Seattle. If she wanted to be close to her boys, she could be, but she chose a different route.

"I didn't bring her uninvited to a toddler's birthday party," Nick pointed out to her, whispering as he saw a body pass by the door. "You can't think I would be happy about bringing your new twenty-five year old boyfriend to my son's birthday. And what about the boys? You think they'll be excited to see their mom has a man in her life?"

"I'm entitled to move on," she said. "You did."

"Look, I'll be civil about it in front of the kids, but I am not happy about this, Kathleen," he tried to end the argument. "We're leaving in about forty-five minutes. You remember how to get here?"

"Of course," she said. "See you soon."

Nick grumbled a goodbye and then turned his cell phone off. He turned to see little Colin looking up at him, playing with his drawstrings. "Who vat, Daddy?"

He picked his toddler up and took him back to his bedroom. "Oh, it was just Brandon and Noah's mom. She's got a present for you."

Colin gasped in excitement as Nick set him down and knelt in front of him. He began to tie his drawstrings and then reached for the sunscreen. It was always a whole lot less hassle to put the lotion on the kids inside, not when a crystal clear, sparkling pool rivaled their attention.

"Daddy, when you said vat I got weal assited," he confessed. Colin cracked Nick up sometimes with the random things he said. "I don't know what anybody got me but I say fank you to all of 'em."

"Well, that's very good Colin. People like it when you thank them," Nick agreed as he began buttering up his son. Sara had purchased SPF 45 again. It was no wonder their kids were the palest on the block.

As Nick started applying the white cream to his son's shoulders, Colin wriggled away and then looked at his father with a very serious expression. He reached up and grabbed his father's face with both of his tiny hands and he asked. "How does sun scr-- how does sun scre-- how does sun-- sun-- how does sun screen work?"

Sometimes Nick and Sara were concerned about Colin's stutter but it hardly ever happened and it didn't limit his ability to communicate much, so they'd decided not to see a doctor yet. He was still a small child. Still, it showed more when Colin was trying to be serious. The problem was that Nick didn't really know the answer to his son's serious question. They'd agreed not to lie to their kids, ever, unless it was absolutely necessary. Making something up about a tough question didn't constitute a lie. "Well bud, I'm not sure actually. Why don't we look it up together when we get home from your party."

Nick's time alone with his baby—no, big boy—son didn't last much longer. Charlie walked into the room and knocked on the wall a bit, "Dad can I talk to you?"

His stepson had always called him Dad, until the big fight they had, but since then he hadn't really been comfortable with it. The kids all had their way. Charlie had called him Nick or Dad, mostly Dad, his whole life. Noah used Mom and Sara interchangeably. Brandon admitted openly that he loved both Sara and his mother equally and claimed that he had two mothers, unless he was angry at Sara, but he never called her Mom.

The fact that Charlie was calling him Dad again made him think that whatever he had to say was pretty important. "Colin would you go find your mom and sisters for me please?"

Colin, who was too young still to understand that it was a cue to get him to leave the room said, "Okay Daddy." He left without any other question.

"What's up Charlie?" Nick settled himself so that he was sitting on Charlie's bed.

"Well, I uh... have a question and I'm not sure I wanna talk to Mom about it." Charlie hedged a little bit as though he was trying to build up the courage to ask.

"Okay," Nick said slowly. "Ask away."

"I don't have a lot of friends, I get that..." Charlie's face turned the shade of purple-red it did when he was going to cry. "But... why don't they like me? How come I don't have any friends?"

Nick decided it was 'ask Dad hard questions' day. So far, he'd been asked by the twins why females had breasts, had the sex talk with Brandon, been asked how sunscreen worked by Colin, and now poor Charlie was having his own problems. His heart dropped to his feet, seeing how upset and totally honest Charlie was being about his problem. Charlie didn't open up to him that much. He'd always asked Sara tough personal questions, so he was a bit surprised. Nick would always accept him with open arms, and Charlie knew it.

"Hey, man, why don't you come in and sit down," Nick first suggested, his tone patient and understanding. Charlie nodded and ducked his head as Nick went to the door and closed it so they'd have some privacy. When he turned back, his stepson was sitting on the bed, his arms crossed nervously over his chest. Charlie was a good kid. He was a nice, friendly kid, but he just had problems making friends. He'd never been outgoing or particularly athletic, but that didn't mean he wasn't a great, fun kid. Nick tried to think of something intelligent and empathetic to say as he took a seat next to him.

"Charlie, I can see you're upset," Nick started off. "There's nothing wrong with you, bud. Some people just have a harder time making friends, that's all."

Obviously, he'd been thinking about this a lot, because he was already choking on his tears. Charlie didn't often let his stepfather see him cry. Nick wasn't sure exactly what Charlie needed to hear, but he took a chance and put his hand on his shoulder. "But I'm never mean to anyone. I try to talk to people, but they just don't seem to care. And Brandon and Noah practically have friends oozing out their ears, and I just know everyone's thinking how'd they get stuck with such a loser stepbrother? Why isn't Charlie cool like them? And I don't know why, Nick! I need to know. I can handle it. Just tell me!"

"Bein' a kid these days is tough, Charlie. And everyone goes through some rough times, where we don't feel like we're being accepted, or we think we're losers. You're not the only one," he told Charlie. "Let me ask you this. Are you trying to be friends with people you might have something in common with, or are you trying to be friends with kids like Brandon?"

"What do you mean?" Charlie looked a little offended. Why couldn't he be friends with kids like Brandon? Was he not worthy?

"What I'm saying is, maybe you're burning yourself out because the guys you talk to aren't interested in the things you're interested in. Like chess, for example. If I try to get Brandon or Noah to play chess, they're out of the room like a bat out of hell. But you, for example. I know you love chess, so we play sometimes. You get what I'm saying?"

Charlie was calming down a lot now, and had stopped crying. Nick hoped he was helping, and not making Charlie feel any worse. "Yeah. I should hang out with kids like me. But sometimes they don't seem to even want to hang out with me."

"Well, you do have some friends." Nick was choosing his words carefully. He knew this was going to be a tough conversation for both of them. "You've been friends with Amanda since you were in pre-school. And what about Lucy and Aiden? You spent a lot of time with them at the beginning of the year?"

"Amanda moved to New York," Charlie said, sniffling. Nick and Sara had once agreed that Amanda and Charlie were probably going to be best friends for the rest of their lives. The poor kid had been devastated when she moved. "And Lucy and Aiden are always doing girl things and don't invite me."

"Well you can still be friends with someone even though they moved," Nick advised his stepson. "There's email and the telephone. And...what kind of girl things are you talking about Lucy and Aiden doing?"

"Well like shopping or going to see girly movies or being in the school play, stuff like that," Charlie said, making a list. "I mean they talk to me in school but they never want to do anything with me outside of class."

"Well, have you ever considered doing things like shopping or movies or plays with them?" Nick knew that it must have sounded like he was going back on his own advice but having friends was tricky. You have to try a little.

"Noah and Brandon would make fun of me," Charlie answered quickly, without even thinking.

"Well forget about your brothers they can be real jerks sometimes," Nick hated saying mean things about his kids but brothers were jerks sometimes. It came with the territory. "Would you have fun doing those things?"

"I guess so," Charlie admitted. "Yeah, probably."

"Then don't you think that's why Lucy and Aiden are your friends," Nick said. "Because you guys have fun together? Whatever you're doing?"

"So I should just hang out with girls even though the boys are gonna pick on me?" Charlie asked, calming down a lot. Nick was getting the feeling that he just needed to hear it from someone else.

"You like them?" Nick asked his son.

"Yeah, I do." Charlie hugged Nick awkwardly for a moment and then started out of the room. "Thanks Nick, and uh... don't tell Mom I uh... talked you about that?"

"No problem," Nick knew that Sara had a habit of being too protective and a discussion like that with Charlie would have broken her heart. He wasn't going to keep a secret from her. He'd feel badly doing that. But it didn't mean he had to address the issue without any tact at all. "I won't go into details."

"Okay, thanks," he said as rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably in the doorway.

"Make sure you get your sunscreen on. Let me know if you need help with your back," Nick called to him. His stepson just nodded and started to make his way down the stairs. Nick walked out of the room and towards the twins' bedroom, where Sara was wrangling all three of them into getting sunscreen on and packing their clothes into bags.

"Jordan, can you go into the bathroom and get the sunscreen please?" she asked her daughter as Nick walked into the room. Jordan nodded and began to skip out of the room. She saw her dad and stopped to give him a little hug.

"How's everything going?" Nick asked his wife cautiously. On days like these, where they had to get all six children ready to go somewhere at the same time, they both got a little frazzled. Add to that the stress of having an ex-wife and her new boyfriend around, and it was going to be a rough day. Nick felt a little guilty having to tell her about it. Sara always tried to be cordial, but no one was ever exactly happy to see their spouse's ex around, especially at their son's birthday party.

"It's going," Sara sighed as she stuffed a couple pairs of undies in the bag. "Colin, did you pick what t-shirt you wanted to bring?"

Colin let out a shriek and giggled from where he was playing with his sisters' dollhouse. Well, at least he was. He had since stripped off his swimming trunks and was playing buck-naked. "Mommy, he's in his birthday suit!" Marley joked as she ran to her bed where Sara was sitting and launched herself onto the comforter.

"Colin," Sara said warningly, already exhausted from the chasing.

"I'll get 'im ready," Nick said, walking over. He scooped the naked child up, and snatched up his trunks, bringing him over to the bed.

"Daddy, can I go over to Amy's house 'til we're ready to go?" Marley asked, always quick to get bored. Jordan returned with the sunscreen and handed it to her mother.

"No, Marley," Nick said as he worked on re-dressing Colin. "We're gonna be going in a few minutes, and we need everyone to stay in one place. Why don't you clean all these toys up while you're waiting. That'll keep you occupied."

"How about I don't?" Marley said with a bit of sass. She twisted her lips to the side when she saw the look she got from both her parents. "I can't! I've got this big cast on, and I can't do any cleaning with it on."

Nick pulled up Colin's trunks, still looking at Marley. "Funny. You can play all day just fine, so if you can do that, you can clean."

"But Daddy, it's Colin's birthday, and no one should have to clean on someone's birthday. It's a rule! And I can't even swim today!"

Sara was rubbing lotion onto Jordan's back and shook her head. "I can only think of one rule that's being broken right now, and it's arguing about something your father told you to do," Sara said, giving her a warning look. Marley hated when she was outnumbered. She sighed loudly and began picking up some of the toys on the floor. Today wasn't going to be a good day. She had to sit out from the swimming party, tomorrow she was grounded, and now she had to clean.

Nick cleared his throat as he tied Colin's trunks again. "Sara, I need to talk to you about something," he began a little nervously.

"Sure. What is it?" She kept her eyes pinned on Jordan's back as she evened out the white lotion.

"Well, uh…turns out Kathleen's in town," he began, ready to gauge her reaction before he continued.

"Uh-huh," she said flatly. Kathleen got along pretty well with Nick and the whole family, but it wasn't exactly a happy event that she was in town.

"And, well…she brought someone with her."

"Jared?" Sara asked knowingly. Nick frowned at her, giving her a look because she knew something he didn't. "Noah mentioned him to me the other day. The boys know she's seeing someone."

"You know anything else about him?" Nick asked her back, smiling again because he now had the upper hand. "Anything at all?"

"Just what the boys told me," Sara said. She almost sounded jealous as she continued, "they're fine with her dating. She's allowed to be in a relationship Nick, they know that."

"She's dating Jared Keller Sara," Nick said and he couldn't resist the urge to laugh when the realization crossed her face. "You do remember him, right?"

"Little Jerry Keller from outreach?" She asked in disbelief. Nick and Kathleen had still been married ten years before when they'd all first met Jared and the other boys. Nick and Charles coached the little league team together as an outreach program from the police department. "What's he like two?"

"He's twenty five now," Nick said as he shuddered in disgust. "Can you believe her? She could be his mother."

"Not quite Nicky," Sara reminded him. Kathleen had only been twenty-four when she married Nick and twenty-six when Brandon was born. "It's not so bad."

"Yeah it is," Nick shook his head. "It really is."

"So, they coming to the party?" Sara asked, trying to change the subject? Then a smile spread across her face, "you think I should pack an old diaper bag for Jerry?"

Nick gave her a sheepish grin as he stood up from the bed. It was a little creepy that Kathleen was dating someone so much younger than her. To the boys, it must be even odder. Jared was only nine years older than Brandon; practically a big brother. Maybe Nick was getting ahead of himself a little. It's not like they were getting married, and the boys rarely saw their mother anyway so who she dated didn't really matter.

"Funny, babe," Nick commented and looked at his watch. He clapped his hands together, perhaps to get everyone inspired to move. "Alright, girls. You about ready? We need to leave soon."

"Does this mean I can stop cleaning?" Marley asked hopefully, with a couple Barbies in her hand. Nick nodded, so she tossed them a couple feet over back onto the floor. Her father snorted a laugh as Sara and Jordan both stood up. Colin tugged on Nick's shorts to get him to pick him up.

"Alright, birthday boy. Are you ready?" Nick asked his youngest son, tickling his bare stomach. Colin giggled as his father carried him towards the stairs. "How old are you again? Thirteen?"

"Daddy, I'm fwee!" He clarified as they descended the stairs. Nick smirked and gave him a couple kisses on his face. He was looking forward to a great family day with all his children, and tried not to think about Kathleen and Jared being around. They'd all have fun despite the uncomfortable situation.

Just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rang. Since Noah was sitting on the couch, and closest to the door, he got up to answer. When he saw his mother standing in front of him, he practically lunged at her and enveloped her in a warm hug.

"Mom!! You're here!" He exclaimed, hugging her tightly.

"Oh, look at you!" Kathleen gushed, as she took his face in her hands to get a good look at him. "Is that my Noah?"

Nick set Colin down on the floor and noticed Jared standing back uncomfortably. He wondered how that conversation had gone. Did Jared really want to take a plane ride to Vegas to meet his girlfriend's ex-husband, who happened to be his old coach, along with his six children? Nick figured Jared wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect, but was just trying to show his support.

"Yeah, Mom. It's me," Noah grinned. He'd had quite a growth spurt since she'd last seen him, easily growing a couple inches. Noah stepped aside so they could both come in.

"Daddy, he's too big to wear diapers," Jordan commented, not understanding it wasn't polite to do so.

Nick was going to apologize for his daughter's unintentionally rude comment when his oldest son came into the room and let him off the hook by making it worse, "Dude Mom where'd you find Jared?"

Brandon walked forward and clapped Jared on the hand welcomingly, not quite putting it together yet. "Brandon?" Jared asked him, "Wow dude you grew up!"

"Yeah, it's good to see you!" Brandon said. He'd been a water boy to the team while Nick and his uncle had been coaching. "What're you doing here?"

"Well I'm here with your mom," he shifted and wrapped his fingers around her hand. "Didn't she tell you?"

"Wait, what the fuck?" Brandon asked. It may have been the sentiment that Nick himself was feeling but it wasn't appropriate language. Again, however, his chance to reprimand his child was lost to him. His wife handled the situation.

Sara, who had just approached, reached out and pinched her eldest stepson's arm. She then leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "Don't speak like that in front of adults or the little ones. Why don't you invite your mom and her friend in?"

Brandon leaned forward and dropped a kiss on his mother's cheek, through gritted teeth, obviously trying to control himself for his stepmother's sake, he said "Why don't you guys come on in?"

"Honey you look great. So grown up," Kathleen gushed over her eldest. "Too grown up."

"Yeah," Brandon spat, unable to control himself any more, "because obviously you don't want the men in your life to be grown-ups at all."

Kathleen's lips closed in displeasure as she cleared her throat a little and squeezed Jared's hand. She knew dating a younger man may cause a bit of a rift, but she hadn't even been there for five minutes and she was getting flack from her own son. Sara attempted to smooth things over, not wanting an argument, especially right off the bat. She wanted to say that if Kathleen wanted to date a 25-year-old, fine, but truthfully it was obviously affecting Brandon.

"Kathleen, Jared, why don't you sit down," she motioned to the couch, which luckily happened to be void of toys and other junk. "Can we get you something to drink?"

"We have to leave in a few minutes. We don't wanna be late to Colin's own birthday party," Brandon pointed out, not really caring to let this all blow over. He of course loved his mother and was happy to see her, but what teenage boy wouldn't be weirded out by this?

Kathleen offered a polite smile as she and Jared sat down. "No thanks, Sara. We can just get something at the party if you're in a hurry."

Nick could see the veins in his oldest son's neck threatening to pop out so he knew he needed to address the situation with him before he said something really stupid. "Brandon, why don't you come help me pack some sodas in the cooler," he suggested, motioning with his head to follow him to the kitchen. Brandon gladly followed, opening the refrigerator door harshly. Nick took out the mini cooler from one of the cabinets and sighed.

"Brandon, I know this is weird," he started in a low voice, so not to be overheard. "I'm a little surprised over all this too, but you need to be civil, man. Not only because it's Colin's birthday, but because she's your mother. She deserves to have a chance."

Brandon set the first pair of sodas on the counter with excess noise and didn't make eye contact with his father. He knew he was trying to cool him down, but why should he? He wasn't the one acting ridiculous. His mother was the one dating someone over fifteen years her junior. That would be like him dating a newborn. It just wasn't right.

"Dad, I really don't wanna hear it right now," he told his father. "You can't expect me to be okay with this." Brandon finally looked over at him. "I mean, what the HELL is she thinking?"

"You know... your mom and I are about as far apart in age as she and Jared are," Nick used the same comment that Sara had earlier, though he struggled more getting it out than she had. "And there's nothing wrong with dating someone younger or older than you... as long as you love each other."

"So I could run off right now with some forty year old woman and you'd be okay with that?" Brandon asked. Inside, the idea really did bother Nick but he wasn't going to let it show.

"If you were in love with her then I wouldn't have a problem with it," Nick took a deep breath. "Love is blind son, it has to be."

"Well I still think this is stupid," Brandon commented slowly. "I mean the guy's closer to my age than he is to Mom's."

"Well yeah, I get that it makes you uncomfortable," Nick admitted. "But you and I don't understand it yet, not the way they do."

"You trying to say they might actually be in love with one another?" Brandon asked his father." Do you even think that's possible?"

"I don't know Brand," Nick tried to give his son a better answer but in truth couldn't come up with one. He had no idea why Kathleen had decided to start dating Jared. Maybe she really did care for him, "Maybe?"

Brandon shook his head in frustration, grabbed two coolers, and left the room quickly. As Brandon was pushing his way out of the door he ran smack into Charlie who was on his way into the room, cradling a wounded looking finger. Nick saw his stepson and called him over.

Charlie's finger was bleeding. "What happened?" Nick looked around franticly for something to wrap the damaged digit. Seeing a paper napkin he grabbed it quickly and wrapped it around the poor ten year old's cut.

"It's fine Nick," Charlie protested, trying to pull away. "Where's my mom?"

"She's in the living room with Brand and Noah's mom," Nick said, wondering what Charlie had been up to while the rest of the family was giving his ex wife the third degree. "Now, how'd you get cut?"

"I want Mom to fix it," Charlie protested.

"Your mom's gonna freak out and rush you to the emergency room," Nick told Charlie with a gentle laugh. "And that's not necessary. Your finger will be fine in a few minutes. Now, how'd you do this?"

"I was in your bathroom," Charlie admitted. "And I knocked your razor on the floor... when I reached down to pick it up I guess I grabbed it wrong because the next thing I knew I was bleeding all over the place."

"Well I'm sorry that happened to you bud. I won't leave it out anymore," Nick took full responsibility for what had happened. Pulling the paper towel back a bit he looked at the wound. It was deep and disgusting but his stepson would survive. "I once did a similar thing in a dorm bathroom in college. I had to go have one of my buddies wrap it up because it was my right hand and I couldn't work the band-aid," Nick showed Charlie the scar on the tip of his right ring finger. "I was a little embarrassed."

"Wow," Charlie said, looking down at his finger again. The bleeding had all but stopped. Nick had told him the story to distract him while he pinched the cut closed and bandaged it. "Thanks Nick."

Nick smiled at his stepson before looking down at his shirt. The whole process had led to a couple of blood stains near his cuffs and a small pool of it near the bottom in the front. He unbuttoned slowly and took the shirt off, revealing a bear chest. Charlie, having just noticed the satins said, "oh I'm sorry Nick I didn't mean to."

Sara had picked that moment to come into the room. She'd been wondering why he hadn't come back out into the living room with Brandon. "Sorry about what?" She asked, wondering aloud.

"Oh, Charlie had a cut," Nick gestured to the finger and then to his shirt. "It bled a little on me."

Sara looked very alarmed for a moment and moved towards her son to check out his finger. Once she was satisfied that Nick had taken care of it well enough Charlie took his escape, hoping to avoid any more of his mom's fussing. "Let me wash that out for you," Sara offered, reaching to take the shirt from her husband.

As she got closer to take the item Nick's strong hands grabbed her by the forearms, allowing the shirt to fall to the floor, he pulled her against his nearly bare body. "It can wait," he whispered, dropping a kiss on her forehead, then another on her lips.

Sara giggled into her husband's passionate kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer. Their kids had seen them kiss before - not that they made out in front of them - so there would be minimal harm if one of them did walk in. As their lips mingled, noses rubbed, and then Nick's hands traveled to her bottom, though, Sara remembered his ex-wife and little Jerry were in the next room. That might be a little uncomfortable. Though it took everything in her to push the epitome of sexy away, Sara gently forced him back, feeling the warmth of his tan, still toned body beneath her fingers.

"Nicky," she giggled a little as he darted in for another kiss, way too strong to be held back by Sara. "There are people in the next room."

Nick leaned in again and captured her lips in a chaste, but sultry kiss. "And?"

Sara full-out laughed and gave him a bit of a playful shove. "And I don't think I want your ex-wife and her practically teenaged boyfriend watching us make out."

Nick smirked, linking their hands together, giving her the most pathetic look. "You're turning me down? Is that what's going on?" He teased her, letting his nose gently bump against hers.

"You're trying to use that on me, huh?" She joshed right back, truthfully finding it very hard to turn down a shirtless Nick Stokes. Even after years of marriage, the flame was still very present. It was practically a bonfire, really. Sara planted one last passionate kiss on his lips and ran her hand through his hair. "I'll make it up to you later. I promise."

His eyebrows wagged up and down a few times suggestively, to which Sara responded by playfully swatting him on the butt to get him to move towards the living room. They found Jordan eyeballing them from the entryway. That's the way it was around here - always a kid around.

"Mommy, you're not s'posed to hit people. Especially Daddy," she pointed out quite matter-of-factly.

Nick latched right on. "Thank you, Jordan. I agree," he said.

"Alright, you two," Sara tried to move things along, stepping into the living room, where everyone almost everyone was gathered now. "Okay, are we ready to go?"

Nick stepped into the room and couldn't help but notice Kathleen's eyes do a scan of his bare torso. "Lemme go find a new shirt, and I'll be right down."

Five minutes later Nick was walking down the stairs, re-dressed in a deep gray t-shirt. It was a size too small and fell a little tightly over his shoulders and parts of his chest but in spite of the awkward way it sat on him it was his wife's favorite. He didn't understand that one.

He walked through the kitchen and living room one last time to check and see if there was anything obvious that the family had left inside. Nick was amazed that in five minute's time Sara had managed to get all six kids, all the supplies, and their two guests into their cars. It would have taken him a half hour at least. Nick spotted the sun screen and put the bottle in his pocket before heading outside.

He laughed at Marley who had her lips pressed up to the window and was making faces at him as he walked towards the car. It was a broken rule but his child's face looked very funny. "Marley Nicole," he reprimanded her with a laugh as he climbed into the car, "we don't do that. Sit back and put your belt on."

Marley giggled mischievously as her father got in the driver's seat. Though he was sure his wife had done it, Nick turned around to make sure everyone had their seatbelts buckled. Marley, Jordan and Charlie were now all buckled up and eager to get going. Kathleen and Jared were driving their rental car with Noah in the back seat. Brandon had already taken off with Colin in the car because he was eager to see Molly again.

Both parents knew that the afternoon might be somewhat difficult for their injured little girl Marley. Swimming was one of her absolute favorite things to do. She loved going to the Browns' anyway, but being able to go in the pool made it unbeatable. They both sensed she was still trying to hold onto the possibility they might let her in.

"Momma, if I promise not to put my arm in, can I get all the way into the pool?" She asked hopefully, playing with the drawstring of her shorts as Nick pulled out the driveway.

An adult might be able to pay attention enough to get their arm up in the pool, but they all knew Marley was easily distracted. She'd get caught up in the moment. Sara could see it now – Jordan would dive under the water to find a diving ring, and Marley would dunk herself under without a second thought. It was too big of a risk for a five year old, especially one as rambunctious as Marley.

"No, baby," Sara reluctantly told her. She still got the sense Marley thought they were ruining her fun on purpose. "Daddy and I said you can sit on the steps or dangle your feet in but that's it."

"But that's not fun, and it's Colin's birthday. We're s'posed to have fun," she pointed out, her voice full of whine.

"Marley, don't whine please," Sara reminded her as they cruised down the street. "That's what the doctor says, and we have to follow his rules."

"Momma do you think Molly will take me to the store for shopping then?" Marley asked, her tone had improved. "We could get ice cream while the other kids swim?"

"I don't think so baby-doll," Nick answered for his wife. If Molly was as into Brandon as he was into her there was very little chance she'd be interested in socializing with a five year old. "It's just one birthday party kiddo, there'll be others."

Sara wanted to back her husband up, she did, but she caught sight of the shirt he was wearing and was having her own internal battle. She had to fight to keep her hands to herself. There were children in the back seat. Nick claimed the shirt was too small but it fit over his sculpted body perfectly. It gave her a very crisp picture of what the man beneath the shirt looked like.

Marley's protests picked up again and this time Sara tore her eyes away from her husband and started watching the road in front of them. "Marley this isn't a negotiation. No pool until the cast is off."

Sara reached out a hand and squeezed gently on Nick's leg, and he lowered his hand to hold hers. Before she let his fingers wrap up around hers she ran them up and down his firm muscular arm one time. She liked the way her hand fit with his, how perfectly the tones of their skin meshed.

"I'd really enjoy taking a swim with you," she whispered to her husband. "Just us."

The car stopped at a red light, and Nick leaned his body towards his wife. "Me too, baby," he whispered, and stole a quick kiss from her. Today, it seemed they were having trouble controlling themselves, even with the kids around. If they didn't have six kids, Sara figured today would be one of those days they never even got out of bed, and just had their way with one another over and over again.

"Ewwwww," the twins responded simultaneously from the back seat. Charlie didn't seem bothered, or perhaps he was just used to it. He just stared out the window, glancing down at his bandaged finger every now and then.

A few minutes later, the car pulled up to the Browns'. There were already several cars there, so Nick parked in the street and told the kids to stay put until they opened the door. The girls were already overly excited. At five, they knew what birthday parties entailed – cake, ice cream, presents, friends – even if it wasn't all for them. Nick opened the back door and Marley came careening out. Though there were no cars nearby, he immediately caught her by the arm and pulled her to his side.

"Marley, calm down," he told her, taking her hand instead. "You weren't watching for cars."

Marley shook her arm and jumped around a little bit, anxious to get to the party as Jordan hopped out. She took her father's other hand and shut the door. Nick decided to get the kids inside first, and unload everything in a few minutes. With the way things were going, the twins would definitely be wearing themselves out and sleeping well tonight, for which he was thankful.

Kathleen and Jared pulled up behind the Stokes' car. Nick had to look away because they were holding hands. The family walked up to the front door, which opened before they could even knock. Warrick greeted them with a smile, and got pummeled by the twins.

"Uncle Warrick!!" They exclaimed, getting a hug from their favorite non-blood uncle.

"Hey girls," Warrick said as he leaned down to wrap both arms around the girls, scooping them up. Nick let go of their hands and let them go to their uncle. They wrapped their four little arms around his neck as he pulled them tightly and dropped kisses on each of their cheeks. "You guys excited for the party?" He asked them as he started carrying them towards the door.

Nick chuckled to himself and walked back to the car so he could help his wife and stepson carry a few of the items inside. He looked around at the cars on his way in: Michael, Mandy's husband, had his car there. That meant the entire Webster-Davis clan would be there. Mandy and her husband of nine years had a daughter and a son. Addison was five years old and the son, Mark, was three-- the exact same ages as the twins and Colin. Greg's car was there too. Nick glanced in and saw the car seat. Greg had his kids that weekend, they were there.

Greg was newly divorced (the papers had been signed all of a week before). He was also a father to two boys and a girl. His eldest, Troy, was eleven. The other boy was a six months old and called Liam. His daughter was called Rachel, and was nine.

Other cars he spotted were Wendy's, Hodges', and Grissom's. He couldn't tell if Wendy's kids were there or not, he'd have to wait until he was inside to figure it out. Nick looked at Charlie as they walked towards the door together, "looks like a lot of your cousins are here today."

"Yeah," Charlie agreed.

They walked towards the door where Catherine and Brandon met them, each taking an arm load of miscellaneous objects. "You guys think you've got enough here?" Catherine teased them.

Sara laughed as they headed towards the back porch, where most of the items needed to go. Brandon took the coolers into the kitchen so they could be put away. Once the items were set on the floor or table, Sara and Catherine gave each other a brief hug, then Nick leaned in and gave Cath a quick peck on the cheek. At times like this, Nick and Sara realized how lucky they were to have such great bonds with their coworkers.

The whole crew was already outside in back, most of the kids already in the pool. Noah was helping Colin on with his armbands so he could swim freely without having to be held. Nick and Sara were greeted all around by Greg and Mandy and her husband. They all remembered Kathleen, and were cordial to her, asking about Jared and politely introducing themselves.

As they were settling in, Sara became aware of the fact that Brandon and Molly weren't outside with the rest of them, so she excused herself to duck inside and make sure they weren't up to no good. She spotted them in the hallway, just out of sight, exchanging some kisses. Sara made a point of noisily filling a cup up with ice and clearing her throat.

"Brandon, I think Greg and Mandy and her husband want to say hello," she called to him. "And I'm sure your mom wants to talk to you some more."

Brandon rolled his eyes, eliciting a little giggle from Molly. Not that he didn't like any of the people outside, but he'd much rather just be hanging out with Molly. No one else his age was around. "I already said hi to everyone," he called back, taking his girlfriend's hand to walk out to the kitchen.

Sara was trying to be discreet. Her oldest son didn't need to be inside, out of sight, making out with his girlfriend. "Well, I still think you need to join us outside," she said, popping her eyebrows up a little bit in that motherly way of hers. Brandon knew what she was getting at, but like any teenager, he didn't always want to do as he was told. He decided to make light of the situation.

"I think I'd rather just go back in the hallway and have sex with Molly," he said bluntly. Molly gasped and smacked Brandon on the rear as Sara gave him a warning look – not a serious look, but Brandon knew when to stop.

Sara pointed to the sliding door that led to the backyard. "Out. Both of you."

"Actually Aunt Sara," Molly said, giving her aunt a grin. Even her green eyes were smiling in a way that Sara knew was a weakness to everyone in the "family" the only exception being Molly's older sister. "I wanted to get Brandon alone for a bit. I promise no sex?"

She had her father's charisma and Sara knew that it was a weakness with the whole "family" Molly's mother especially. "Okay, he's yours but I'd really like to spend some time with you too kid, so come on outside okay?"

I promise," Molly grinned at her again. "Thanks Aunt Sara."

Sara chuckled at the teens, remembering what it was like to be fifteen and in love. Though, sometimes she thought it was a lot more like the love she shared with her husband, or even the love Catherine and Warrick shared, only a much newer and younger version. She and Nick loved each other passionately, fiercely, and very physically. Catherine and Warrick were much more intimate, even in public, intimate and breathtaking in their way. Sara smiled at the thought that she and her friends had found the people they were meant to be with, and again at remembering she'd been so lucky twice in her life.

"Wow," Brandon chuckled dropping a gentle kiss on Molly's cheek. "I've never seen anybody get rid of Sara that easily. I should keep you."

"You might have to," Molly spat, the smile had vanished from her face. "Brandon there's something we really need to talk about."

The worried look of her beautiful features made Brandon's face drop also. He instinctively clasped his hand with hers and walked them towards the couch. "What's up?"

Molly gently released her hand from Brandon's and instead tucked her fingers in between her knees self-consciously. She looked down for a moment, wetting her lips as she fought up the courage to tell him what she needed to say. "Well, uh…" she cleared her throat, not liking how afraid she sounded. "I'm sorta…well my period's almost a week late, Brand. I was waiting and hoping it would come, so I didn't say anything, but…" she gestured with her hand in frustration. "I'm late."

It felt good to get it off her chest finally. She'd been silently battling with this knowledge for days. But sharing it didn't mean it was going to be fixed. It meant that now Brandon was scared out of his mind also. "Wh…are you sure?" He asked her, not really knowing what to say.

She half-smirked at his lame question. "Uh, yeah. It hasn't come. I'm pretty sure I'd notice."

Brandon scrubbed a hand across his cheek in worry. "Yeah, I know. I meant, are you sure you calculated it right. I mean…you're really a week late?"

"Yes, Brandon," she told him morosely. "I might be pregnant."

The word seemed to punch him in the stomach. Only a week or so ago, he'd had an argument with his father about how he didn't want any kids for a long time because he'd been so tied down with responsibility for his own siblings. He didn't want kids at least for another ten years. This wasn't fair. Suddenly, he felt anger boiling up inside him. Not anger at Molly, but at himself for not being careful. Damn, he'd just had a conversation this morning with his dad about being careful. He was at a loss for words, and simply rested his head in his hand, his elbow resting on his leg.

Brandon's silence was troubling Molly, threatening to send her to tears. "Brandon, say something."

He squeezed her hand tighter and did what he thought was the manly thing, "well, okay. You might be pregnant. We can handle this."

"Brandon," Molly's voice was almost angry. "It's not like one of us failing a test—well I guess you could look at it that way, if I actually do take a test, and uh... fail."

"What I mean is... I'm not gonna just turn my back and run," he squeezed her hand tightly again. No matter how afraid he was he wasn't going to let her down. He really did love her. "I guess we should try to get our hands on a test."

"Wait," Molly looked at him, almost crying. "You're okay with this?"

"No," he admitted, he couldn't lie to her. "Not really. But you're not gonna do this alone."

"Should I tell my mom?" She asked, meekly. "Or call my sister?"

"I don't know," Brandon was getting a little scared. "I don't think we should talk to the parents yet. You could just be late. Doesn't that happen for all sorts of reasons? Sports, stress, stuff like that?"

"It can," she was a little less close to crying.

Brandon was known at his school to be quite the ladies' man, much like his father had been, but he also knew how to treat a woman. At times like these, Brandon knew he could run and hide, but he was much better than that, despite his tendency to be a bit of a flirt.

"Heyyy," he cooed gently, moving in for a hug. Molly seemed to cling to him just a little bit as he rubbed her back. "We'll get through this. If you're pregnant, we'll deal with it. And we'll have our parents to help us. I know they would."

Molly laughed humorlessly. "My dad would kill you, and then he'd probably lock me in the basement until I'm thirty," she retorted. Brandon winced, remembering what Nick had told him earlier about Warrick killing him and Catherine hiding the body. Truthfully, they would be a bit disappointed, but they were all great parents and would help out their kids.

"They may be a little ticked at first, but they'd come around. You know they would," Brandon pointed out, and Molly knew she was right. She was thankful she had a supportive family, unlike some other kids at school. Molly nodded in agreement and Brandon pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then another gently to her lips. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah," Molly whispered.

"Want me to sneak off and buy a pregnancy test at the drug store?" He offered, wanting to know right now if they were gonna be parents in nine months.

Molly smiled at his supportiveness and shook her head. "About a year back, Lindsey had a scare and bought, like, eight pregnancy tests. There's still one in the bathroom."

Brandon nodded and stood up, tugging her up gently by the hand. They disappeared up the stairs to find the test.

Meanwhile, outside, the party was in full swing. All the kids, sans Marley and baby Liam, were now in the pool, all buttered up with sunscreen, splashing away as the parents conserved their energy on the porch. Marley sat on the first step in the pool, watching her siblings and cousins play happily. Her mother had directed her to keep her right arm on the side of the pool, out of the way. It was sheer torture having to watch everyone else play.

While the teens were unseen in the house the rest of the clan was outside all running around in and out of the pool, enjoying themselves. Charlie had buddied up with his cousins Rachel and Troy, who were both within a year's age of him. He was hardly noticing anymore that he hadn't brought any friends with him. Noah's girlfriend Allison had been dropped off and was actually paying more attention to Marley than she was to Noah, though he didn't mind. Noah was being entertained by his baby brother who had all but learned how to swim through his aid.

Nick was talking to Greg, who had a very disgruntled looking Liam on his lap, but they were interrupted momentarily when Catherine and Warrick approached. Catherine made a fuss over baby Liam and carried him off someplace with her. Warrick pulled her back briefly, dropped a kiss on her lips, and then let her wander away while he settled down next to his friends.

"Don't you just love how we've managed to turn a three year old's birthday into a huge backyard get together," Warrick said, looking around at everyone who was there. "And look at all these kids. Can you believe that there are eleven of them here just between the three of us? I remember a time when we were all bachelors."

"You and I were never really bachelors," Nick said with a laugh. "Catherine and Sara had their eyes on us for a long time."

"Too bad there were a few hiccups," Greg commented. "Namely Tina, Charles, and Kathleen."

"Hey, you've got to count Eddie Willows in that," Warrick jabbed back. "And I don't think it's exactly fair to call Charles a hiccup, considering."

"Speaking of hiccups though," Greg said. "What's Kathleen doing here? And why's she with that kid from your baseball team?"

Nick groaned dramatically, letting his buddies know he wasn't happy about it. "Well, she hadn't seen the boys in a while, and she thought Colin's birthday would be a good time to pop in. She didn't tell me Jared was coming until this morning," he explained, glancing away for a moment to check on their brood of kids.

"How old is he?" Warrick asked.

"Twenty-five," Nick gave a perturbed smile and nodded as Greg whistled. "I used to coach the little shit. I'm trying to be understanding about it, you know, but Brandon's pretty weirded out by it too."

"I can understand that," Warrick said, as they looked over at the couple. Jared was rubbing Kathleen's left shoulder a bit as they watched the kids play. Nick couldn't help but feel a little bad for Kathleen, with Brandon's reaction this morning, but he couldn't blame his son for being uneasy about it.

Marley came wandering over, her arms crossed over her chest, with just the bottom of her bathing suit wet. Her hair was dry, and a frown was set on her face as she approached Nick. Dramatically, she collapsed her upper body on his legs, hoping for some comfort. Noah had since stolen Allison back, and she was left without a playmate.

"How's it goin', baby girl?" Nick asked, patting her back, with her face buried against his leg.

She mumbled something he couldn't understand. "Can't hear you, Mar," he gently slipped his hands underneath her arms so he could pull her up. "Come sit in my lap and talk to me."

Marley allowed him to situate her on his lap and rubbed at her eyes. "Daddy, everyone's playing and no one wants to play with me cause they all wanna be in the pool, and Jordan won't even play with me cause she's playin' with Addison and no one wants to play with me!" She rambled. Marley always tended to get emotional and dramatic when she felt wronged.

Nick gently pushed her bangs away from her eyes in a backwards motion as she poured her little heart out. He wished he could let her swim; he really could. But it just wasn't in the cards.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he told her. "Do you wanna stay here and hang out with Daddy and Uncle Greg and Uncle Warrick?"

Marley looked thoughtful for a few moments and then glared at her father, "no I don't wanna hang out with you I want to play with the other kids!"

"Well why don't you ask them to come out of the pool a while," Greg suggested to his niece gently. "I bet they'll play with you if you ask nicely."

"Daddy take my cast off," Marley demanded, ignoring her uncle's words. "So I can get in and swim. You can put it back on when I'm done."

"It doesn't work that way sweet pea," Nick told his daughter. He dropped a kiss in her hair and hugged her. She seemed frustrated though, because she pushed away from him.

Nick was going to ask where she was headed off to when Chandler came walking up to the group of them, sipping on a can of soda. "Hi uncle Nick," he greeted.

"Hey buddy," Nick said to the fourteen year old. "What's up?"

"Just hanging out at my three year old cousin's birthday party," Chandler said with a chuckle. "And getting ready to poke fun at my uncle."

"Why's that?" Nick asked, laughing. Chandler had always had the best sense of humor of the kids. "What'd I do?"

"Not you," Chandler said looking over at Greg. "I just finished reading uncle Greg's new book..."

Nick was about to comment on the latest of Greg's series of stories about old Vegas when he heard a splash over in the pool. There was something familiar about the sound, enough to alarm him even though he'd been hearing splashes since he arrived. A moment later there was a shriek from Jordan and then he heard laughter from both of his girls. Nick grumbled when he looked up. Marley had jumped into the pool.

"Oh my God," Nick muttered under his breath, his jaw torquing in annoyance. He felt bad for Marley not being able to swim, but direct disobedience wasn't something he and Sara tolerated as parents. Nick was out of his chair in less than a second, striding over to the edge of the pool. Marley was laughing, doggy paddling around in the pool without a care in the world. Perhaps she didn't realize this would mean yet another trip to the doctor and getting her cast set a second time.

"Marley Nicole!" His voice carried over all the splashing and laughing the kids were doing, and immediately caught everyone's attention. Marley looked up at him wide-eyed from the center of the pool, out of his reach. Everyone, including Sara, could see that the little girl had finally snapped and jumped in all the way. "Get out of the pool right now."

"NO!" She immediately answered back. If she hadn't always been such a firecracker, everyone may have been surprised by her answer, and her resolve, as she swam even farther away from where Nick was standing. Sara immediately crossed the backyard to back her husband up.

Nick lowered his voice, not wanting an audience, but his voice was still stern. "I'm counting to three, and if you're not to the edge of this pool, you'll be grounded for the rest of the week. One…"

Marley frowned but stood her ground, or her place in the water, so to say. Nick felt a little embarrassed when he started counting, and she didn't budge, with almost every eye watching him. Of course, they all understood. Every parent had those moments of sheer embarrasment in front of others, when their child was being so completely ridiculous it hurt.

"Two…" Jordan could see how mad their dad was, and tried to nudge her sister towards the edge, but Marley just grumbled and kept swimming in place.

Sara clapped her hands together. "Marley! Listen to your father." Her request was ignored. As far as Marley was concerned, she'd been jipped, and she just wasn't going to take it anymore.

"Three. Alright, I'm goin' in," Nick said tersely to his wife. If she wasn't so upset with her daughter, Sara would have thoroughly enjoyed the sight of her husband stripping off his t-shirt. He tossed it to the side and kicked his flip flops off. Without hesitating, he crouched down at the edge of the pool and braced himself with his arm to work his way into the pool.

"Daddy no!" Marley shrieked and swam as quickly as she could away from her father. It was a futile attempt though. He was larger and faster than she was.

He gathered her up and swam to the edge of the pool passing the sobbing child up to his wife. "Mommy don't be mad at me," Marley begged as Sara wrapped a towel around her shoulders. "I didn't really do anything wrong."

"You deliberately disobeyed your father and I," Sara said, ushering her child away towards the house for a bit more privacy. "That's about as wrong as it gets."

"Are you really gonna ground me for a week?" Marley asked, sniffling, as she sat on the kitchen table drying off. "It's Colin's birthday, I was just trying to have fun."

"Your father said till the end of the week," Sara said, though she was tempted to ground the child until the end of the year but she was much more strict with the twins than her husband. "So that's how long you're grounded for."

"But it's Colin's birthday!" Marley tried to use her excuse again.

"Even if it was your birthday you'd be in trouble kid," Sara rubbed her daughter's shoulders with the towel another time and then wiped the tears from beneath Marley's eyes. "Honey I get that you're frustrated but when Daddy and I give you instructions it really is for your own good."

Marley sobbed a little bit as her feet dangled over the edge of the table. "But I don't wanna be grounded!"

Sara dried off her daughter's legs as Nick came through the sliding door, still looking pretty pissed. He understood that because Brandon was a teenager, he'd give him a hard time, but not from Marley. Little girls were supposed to be sweet and innocent and obedient, right?

"You should've thought of that before you jumped in," Sara said as she grabbed a tissue from the kitchen counter and began wiping her daughter's nose. Nick had since dried off the best he could and had thrown his towel over his shoulder, though his trunks still dripped a little bit. He stood in front of Marley, putting his hands on either side of her on the table so she had to look at him.

"Marley, why'd you disobey us?" He demanded, though he kept control of his voice. If he got overly upset every time one of his kids disobeyed him, he'd be a mess.

"Cause I wanted to swim real bad," Marley answered him, looking him in the eyes.

"You know better, Marley," he reminded her as Sara placed a hand on his back and rubbed gently. They were both angry at Marley, but they all made mistakes. She'd just have to accept the consequences, and get a new cast. "I'm really disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry, Daddy," she mumbled a little, clutching her towel a little closer to her body. "Can I go back outside now?"

"Absolutely not," Sara piped in, not willing to reward her behavior with getting to go back to the party. "We're gonna call the doctor, because you're gonna have to get a new cast now, Marley."

Upstairs, Brandon and Molly had heard what sounded like Sara and Marley, and then Nick come inside, and it didn't sound pleasant. Since Molly had implored with Sara to let them stay inside by themselves for a while, they figured they'd better show their faces. They came down the stairs holding hands as Nick found the phonebook to find the doctor's number.

"Brandon, Molly," Sara acknowledged them, having forgotten amidst all the chaos they'd been inside the whole time. "Where've you been?"

"We were just talkin'," Brandon said, squeezing his girlfriend's hand. He noticed Marley looking teary eyed and fully wet. "Did you jump in, Marley?"

The little girl nodded and sniffled, wondering if it had all been worth it. "You know, your cast is gonna start stinking now," Brandon said. "One of my friends accidentally got his cast wet back in seventh grade, and it reeked."

Marley's tears started again. She didn't want her cast to smell. It was bad enough already. "Momma, I don't want my cast to stink!"

Sara was about to promise her daughter that they would take her to the doctor and get her a new cast when she realized that Brandon and Molly were being a little fidgety. It was like they'd just been caught doing something they shouldn't. Something just wasn't right—but she didn't want to pressure the situation with everyone in the room.

Nicky," she said, trying to give her husband a reprieve. "Why don't you head back outside and check on Colin. I can finish up in here."

"You think we're done?" he asked Marley, not noticing that Sara was trying to coerce him out of the room. The truth was that he didn't want to spend too much time reprimanding his child when there was an entire party outside wondering what was going on in there.

"We can be done Daddy," Marley answered, feeling a little guilty. She hated it when her parents were actually mad at her about something. "I'm really sorry."

"Well thank you sweet-heart," Nick said, dropping a kiss on her forehead. "You're still in trouble Munchkin, but I love you."

"I love you too Daddy," Marley said. "And I love you Mommy, and I'm sorry Mommy."

"What'd the little brat do?" Brandon asked. Molly squeaked and slapped him in the arm. Nick glared at him. Sara shushed him.

Marley, however, was quick enough on her feet to put him in his place. "I didn't do nothin' Brandon!"

Nick chuckled, "I'll be outside sweetie." He kissed his wife on the cheek and retreated back through the door where he'd come from.

"Molly sweetheart do you think you could take Marley upstairs and get her a change of clothes?" Sara asked the teen. "Something of Sammy's? We didn't bring anything for her to change into because we didn't think she was going to be swimming."

"Sure I think there are a couple of outfits in Lindsey's room," she reached a hand out and led Marley towards the stairs. "You wanna wear that purple shirt with the butterflies?" Sara heard her niece asking her daughter on their way out of the room.

She had Brandon alone now and wasn't going to waste the moment, "okay kid you've got three minutes to tell me what's going on with you two or I'm gonna go get your dad."

Brandon sighed heavily and ran his hand through his short hair, much like his father did when he was bugged by something. If he totally spilled his guts to his stepmother, it would be really weird, and she'd tell his dad, and they'd probably never let him date again. Plus, it had just been a scare. Thank goodness it was just a scare. No, he couldn't tell her everything. It wasn't really her business, anyway.

"Oh, just something going on with friends, Sara," he fibbed, but looked her straight in the eye. Sara had never been able to tell with her oldest stepson when he was lying to her. With any of the other kids, they had a deer in the headlights look, but Brandon had always been able to keep his cool. He'd probably make a really good actor. "Molly just wanted to talk about it in private."

Sara didn't say anything for a few long moments, sizing her stepson up. She really hoped he was telling the truth, but she still felt suspicious. They'd been alone quite a long time. Anything could have happened. "Brandon…I know you probably don't want to talk about this with me. But, are you and Molly…sexually active?"

Brandon turned in his place and looked up at the ceiling, not believing Sara was actually asking him that point blank. "If I was, do you think I'd actually be talking about it with you? And what? You think we'd just go upstairs and have at it at a three year old's birthday party? Give me some freakin' credit," he quipped, feeling a bit insulted that she felt she could ask him this. Sure, he was semi-close to Sara, but he really didn't want to have this conversation with her. He had trouble talking to his dad about it; he wasn't going to open up to her.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about it with me, then maybe you should talk to your dad about it…" Sara suggested.

Already done with the conversation, Brandon started heading towards the sliding doors. "He already had the sex talk with me. I understand, now let's drop it," he called over his shoulder as he exited the house, letting the door shut loudly.

_Whatever it was I wasn't trying to ambush you._ Sara typed into her cell phone and then texted it to Brandon. She truthfully hadn't wanted to make him feel trapped, it was just that he and Molly looked really uncomfortable. Her initial fear was that Molly had dumped him. She was relieved that wasn't the case.

Then, Sara decided to ignore that Brandon had gotten so angry with her and to try to go out into the party and enjoy herself. The whole crew wasn't together often enough. She went back outside and found Catherine, Warrick, Mandy, Greg, and her husband.

"Sorry about that everybody," she said, snuggling next to her husband with her arms around him. "When you've got six kids you can't get them all to behave like you want them to."

"Sometimes you can't get some adults to behave either," Mandy's eyebrows arched as she pointed across the yard to Kathleen and Jared. Kathleen was sitting on the younger man's lap, kissing him like they were teenagers. Well, some teenagers even had more self control than that.

Brandon and Noah were sitting with Allison and Molly at a table about twenty five feet from where their mother was going at it with a former role model of theirs. Even Noah, who hadn't been as against the match as everyone else seemed put out by the public display. Couldn't his mother control herself? If not for her own personal image then for the sake of her sons?

"Jeez are they gonna come up for air?" Greg asked, leaning forward to reclaim his youngest son from Catherine. Liam started tugging on the collar of his father's shirt.

"You think we ought to call the fire department or something?" Mandy asked, squinting at the two of them.

Liam squealed a chuckle of approval at her comment.

"Liam can't even talk yet and even he agrees something needs to be done," Warrick chimed in, holding out a hand for the infant to give him five. "That's my boy!"

"Maybe one of us ought to talk to them," Catherine observed aloud. All eyes fell on Nick.

"Me?" Nick asked, sounding shocked. "Get someone else to do it."

At that exact moment the two three year olds at the party, Colin and Mandy's son Mark, trotted past them followed by Troy, who'd been elected to babysit for the day. "Marky, Colin, come here a minute boys," Mandy said.

After dropping a kiss on her son's forehead Mandy continued, "You see those two people over there," she pointed towards the nearly copulating couple. "They're gonna bring you some cake. Why don't you boys go over there and ask them to get it for you."

"Okay," Mark said, Grinning.

"Th-they're busy," Colin chimed in. "It's rude."

"No, no," Mandy gently told them. "They're just waiting for you boys to come get them. Don't stop asking until they get up to help you."

"Okay," Colin agreed.

As the boys wandered off to complete their mission Troy looked back at Mandy and the others and couldn't help but start laughing. "I can't believe you just did that."

Sara, who was a little put out by the fact that Mandy had just used her youngest son as a weapon against her husband's ex wife thought the situation over again. It was pretty funny. As she watched Mark and Colin each start tugging on different parts of Jared and Kathleen's clothing she slowly started to laugh along with Troy. It was funny. Warrick, Greg, Catherine, and Nick all started to laugh along with her. Even Liam giggled his approval.

It took a few seconds for the affectionate couple to pry their lips away from each other, but eventually perhaps out of annoyance, or maybe remembering there were about twenty other people around, Kathleen pulled away and looked down at the two toddlers.

Brandon watched from across the lawn as Colin and Mark did their duty, causing his mother and her boyfriend finally to get up and stand farther than three centimeters apart. At least he had the decency to make out with Molly in the hallway out of sight, and his mother was making out in front of a small crowd? And was Jared living with her? If he decided to move in with her, would he have to put up with this all the time?

Everyone else seemed to be too scared or perhaps too polite to say anything to Kathleen about her behavior, so Brandon decided he needed to give his mother a piece of his mind. In a second, he spun himself around and stood up, then began striding towards his mother. Kathleen was leading the two boys over to the table to cut some cake when her oldest son walked up, looking pretty ticked off.

"Mom, I need to talk to you," he said, gritting his teeth. Kathleen could tell by the look in his eye it was important, and it wouldn't be pleasant. It amazed her how much like Nick her son was becoming. They had that same look when they were angry – tightened jaw and shoulders, eyebrows furrowed. Colin and Mark had since been ushered back over to their parents, so Kathleen turned to her son, her forehead creased in concern.

"Fine," she said, nonchalantly, and gave her boyfriend a little wink. Nick had been observing the whole thing, and grumbled under his breath. Something needed to be said to Kathleen, but he wasn't sure if Brandon would handle it the right way. He got up from his chair and followed his ex and his son towards the house.

When Brandon saw he had been followed in he started, "Dad, I wanna talk to Mom alone."

"Brandon, you look pretty upset," Nick told his son. "I think you need to calm down before you say something you regret."

Brandon scoffed, his hands on his hips as he stood in front of his biological parents. "Calm down? Mom's making out like she's a teenager in front of the entire family, and what? You're okay with this? Mom, you're acting like a freaking whore, and I really don't wanna watch it!"

"Brandon!" Both his parents yelled simultaneously.

"Don't you dare use that language with me, Brandon, I won't have it!" Kathleen reprimanded her son. "I'm sorry if you don't like the idea of me dating Jared, but I'm entitled to love someone and to kiss him."

"You were practicly having sex," Brandon spat. "It was disgusting. Have a little consideration for other people around you. Especially your kids and my brother Colin. He didn't need to see that."

"Brandon!" Kathleen chided. It was the first time in his life that the teen could remember his mother ever having really reprimanded him for anything. She had always let their father be the disciplinarian. "You won't talk to me that way. I won't take it."

"Maybe you'll take it from me then," Noah piped up, standing in front of his older brother. "Because you need to get your tongue out of that guy's mouth long enough to realize you're in public. Jeez Mom, even I control myself better than that!"

"That guy!?" Kathleen shouted back, deranged looking. "That guy happens to be my fiancé. And you two better learn to like it or you're going to have one hell of a time when you come to live with us."

"Live with you?!" Brandon asked, still very angry. "Noah and I are NOT going to come live with you. You couldn't pay us enough."

Noah's face fell though and his resolve was weakening a little, "you actually want us to live with you? You mean like... in our own rooms at your house? You'd be the one making us dinner every night? We'd get to see you every day?"

"Noah, Sara and Dad do all of that for us," Brandon said, dropping a hand on his brother's shoulder, steering him towards the living room. "You don't need to go to Seattle."

"But Brandon it's _Mom_," Noah said, talking quietly so that the rest of his family wouldn't hear. "We never see her and when we do she's always working."

"Well I'm not going to move in with her and her new husband," Brandon said gently to his little brother. "And I don't want you to either. Dad and Sara are just... better at being parents I guess. Besides they need us to take care of the little ones."

"Since when am I not a 'little one' to you?" Noah asked, glaring at his brother. "And since when do you get to say who I live with and who I don't?"

"Because you're my little brother," Brandon answered. "No matter how grown up you think you are, or I think you are, you're still my little brother. I don't want you to live eleven hundred miles away. Besides, mom's acting like a hoochie... you don't wanna be around that, do you?"

Noah had always been the more emotional of the two boys. He loved his mother, and wanted very much to live with her, but if she was going to be making out with Jared in front of them all the time, he'd rather stay with his dad. At least he and Sara were discreet about their affection. The push and pull of the situation was getting him a little upset.

"I…I just wanna be with Mom for a while, Brandon," he confessed. It was what he wanted, and their father had taught them to stand up for what they wanted, because no one else would. "But I don't want to see that all the time," he said.

"Well, that's what you're gonna get 24/7," Brandon said. "And do you really wanna leave Colin and the twins and even Charlie for that?"

They were interrupted by a knock at the opening of the living room. It was their dad, looking concerned. "Boys," he stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked towards them. "I can see you're both still upset about this whole thing. But I don't think today is a good time to be making any decisions about where you live."

"I've already decided," Brandon said quickly. "I'm not gonna live with THAT."

"You're upset," Nick reminded him. "And we don't know if Jared's gonna be there for sure."

"You heard her, Dad!" Brandon raised his voice. "They're engaged. He's gonna be living there, and by the time we've lived there for a couple days, they'll probably be having sex in front of us."

"Brandon," Nick's voice had a warning tone to it. His oldest was getting almost irate and he could see Noah looking down at his feet, keeping quiet. All too much, Brandon got to dictate what he and Noah thought, always being thought of as a pair because of who their biological parents were. "Enough. I understand how you feel, but you need to calm down, man," he advised his son.

Brandon sighed loudly and shook his head, pacing around. Nick observed Noah for a few moments, and knew there was something he needed to get out. "Noah, what are you thinking about?" Nick asked him gently.

Noah looked up at his father with tears in his eyes and it nearly broke Nick's heart. "I don't know, Dad," he practically whispered.

Nick thought for a moment and then raised a hand and clapped his younger son on the shoulder. "I think you're thinking about something and I'd really like to know what it is."

"Why does it have to be about Mom's family and our family?" Noah asked very quietly. "Why can't it all just be one family?"

"That's part of being divorced kid," Nick answered, wishing he had a better explanation. "We don't expect you to love any one member of your family more than any other."

"But who counts as my family?" Noah asked. "You and Mom and Brandon? You, Sara, the twins, Colin, Charlie, and Brandon? Or, some variation of the two?"

"A variation," Nick answered, this time more confidently. "We're all your family, each and every one of us. And for now so is Jared. And Uncle Warrick, Aunt Catherine, Chandler, and Molly. And uncle Greg, Troy, Rachel, and Liam. And... everyone else."

"That's a lot of people," Noah laughed a bit. "But I mean real family Dad."

"This is your real family kid," Nick told him gently. "Look you don't have to choose between your mom and me. We both love you. It's not a contest and it's not a choice. We're both always gonna be here for you."

"Seems more like mom wants to be here for herself," Noah spat. "And Brandon's not making it any easier for her to pick us."

"You can't blame your brother or your mom for that," Nick told his son. "Sometimes things about our life situations just suck. You can't always lay blame."

"Yeah right," Noah rolled his eyes. "Mom doesn't like being with us for a reason Dad."

It troubled Nick that his son thought his mother didn't want him around. The reason she wasn't around was more a problem of distance, not at all whether she wanted them around or not. She guilt-tripped him all the time about not having the boys. Divorce and visitation was a messy thing, and Nick wished he could make it all better, but some things in life were just hard.

"Buddy, that's not true," Nick corrected his son. "She wants you around so bad. You know it's just about the distance."

"She didn't have to move!" Noah pointed out. "She could've stayed here if she really wanted to, but she didn't."

"That was so hard for her to move, Noah," Nick reminded her. "And she misses you two so much every day. Believe me, she wishes you could be together, and she wishes we all lived nearby."

"If she misses us so much, maybe she should move back instead of making us choose between you and her."

Nick looked at his son sympathetically and pulled him into a hug. "I know it's hard. And I think today, you both have been pretty upset, so don't be makin' any choices today, alright? Let's just try to enjoy Colin's birthday."

They heard the sliding door open, and Catherine poked her head in. "Hey, we're about to do the cake and ice cream!" She called, knowing several party members were inside. She needed to get to the kitchen to find the ice cream, but didn't want to intrude, knowing some intense conversations were going on.

Nick heard a squeal from upstairs. Marley was still up there with Molly changing. Though by now they'd probably resorted to playing with some of the upstairs toys. "Caaaake!" The five year old yelled and they heard her footsteps running.

Nick pulled away from his son. "You alright?"

Noah wiped at his cheeks with the back of his hand, trying to shake his emotions off. Brandon had since sat down on the couch with his arms crossed. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Want me to help with the ice cream?"

"Sure, man, that'd be great," Nick told him, squeezing his shoulder. "Go tell Catherine."

Marley came bounding down the stairs, full of smiles, and had seemingly forgotten all about her misbehavior earlier. She tended to get over things pretty quickly. Though she was still in trouble, Nick thought it would be cruel not to let her have cake and ice cream. She saw Noah and bounded over to him.

"Noah, let's go get cake!!"


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Well hey there! Long time no see! Lostladyknight and I have been working on this chappie for about a month, and it has become quite possibly our longest chapter ever! It just, uh….happened? So, we hope there's still lots of interest in this story though it's been a while since we updated. This begins the next "set" of chapters, about 6 years after where we left off in chapter five. We hope you enjoy and leave us a review. :D_

_Epically yours, Lostladyknight and bauerfreak_

Sara thought having two boys out of the house would make her life a lot less stressful, but she'd turned out to be very wrong. As she pulled into the driveway with three kids in tow, she was about as stressed as she'd been with all six around. Sara had been late picking the kids up from school and had to leave almost immediately to take Colin to his speech therapy appointment. Luckily, she didn't have to do this every single day – just days when she had to take her youngest son to speech. But today was enough.

"Mom, can't I have my cell phone back now?" Marley pleaded as Sara cut the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt. In the seat next to her, Jordan rolled her eyes. Marley and Jordan both had cell phones, for emergency and call-home purposes only, but that plan wasn't working quite as well as they'd hoped. Jordan was very responsible, and preferred chatting online with her friends anyway, but Marley was a communication fiend. She went crazy if she couldn't talk to her friends, whether it be on instant messenger, on her cell phone, or in person. Today, she'd been caught for a second time texting in class.

"Absolutely not," Sara answered without missing a beat. Her Social Studies teacher had taken it second period and handed it over to Sara at the end of the day when she picked them up. "You're not going to be seeing this cell phone for a while, Marley."

Sara pushed the door open and grabbed her purse, which held the confiscated cell phone. Three other doors opened, and out came the youngest three of the Stokes children. The twins, both in sixth grade, and Colin, a third grader.

"But, Mom!" Marley protested, as her mother knew she would. "Miss Ballinger wasn't even teaching when I was texting. It was independent work time, so it didn't matter!" She followed her mother inside, right on her heels. Sara sighed as she set her purse on the kitchen counter. They didn't know it was possible, but Marley had gotten even more argumentative over the years, no matter how firm she and Nick were about the rules and not making excuses.

"I cannot believe you're even arguing with me about this Marley," Sara said, turning to her daughter. The other kids streamed into the kitchen to get a well-needed snack after a long day at school. "First of all, you're not supposed to be texting your friends at all. That cell phone is for calling your father or me, or your brothers and sister. And second – it's a school rule not to have cell phones out in class."

Marley crossed her arms over her chest, looking thoroughly wronged. Why should she expect her mother to understand how boring Social Studies was, or how important it was to warn her best friend Chelsea that her crush was flirting with Elizabeth Jacobs AGAIN.

"But how am I supposed to talk to my friends? Dad grounded me from the computer!" She continued to protest as Sara grabbed herself a granola bar to take with her in the car. Colin's speech appointment was in ten minutes, and they hadn't even left the house yet.

"Dad grounded you from_ everything_," Jordan pointed out as she took a seat on the couch for a little break before starting homework. All these years later, Jordan was still very much the better-behaved of the twins, and managed to know about everything going on in the house. Marley gave her twin sister the evil eye, and knew she wouldn't be winning this battle.

"That's what being grounded means, Marley," Sara pointed out as she picked up her purse again and motioned for Colin to join her. "No friends. Alright, I'll be back in an hour. Behave yourselves, please."

Sara's cell phone rang as she led her youngest out the door. Looking down at her phone she noticed that it was her oldest son, the only child still living in the house that didn't belong to both her and Nick, Charlie. "Hey sweetheart," she greeted him trying not to sound stressed. "What's up?"

"I was just calling to let you know I got to work okay," Charlie told her. "I'm about to clock in though, so I can't talk long."

"Okay hon," Sara told him gesturing to to Colin to go get in the car, she still had to find his tape recorder and home therapy log. Colin had a stuttering problem. It wasn't always bad, at home when he was calm and comfortable it rarely made a difference. But when he was excited or nervous about something it was sometimes impossible for him to speak. Sara tried to multi-task as she located Colin's materials and turned her thoughts back to Charlie, "Is Noah's car running any better now?"

"Yeah, it sounds okay," Charlie told her but she knew he really wasn't the authority on cars. As long as it rolled he really couldn't tell the difference between them working or not. "I'll be home a little after nine, leave me some supper in the microwave?"

"Sure," she agreed. "Now you get to work and I've got to get your brother to his appointment."

"Thanks mom," he said pretty cheerfully. "Tell the brat I said hi."

Sara rolled her eyes at her son even though she knew he couldn't see. "Yeah, yeah, have a good evening. Love you."

"Bye mom," he said and hung up the phone. He still said he loved her all the time but he didn't really say it around his friends and especially not around his co-workers.

Finally Sara made her way outside and into the car, enjoying the quiet and being alone with Colin. Part of her secretly enjoyed "appointment days" because it gave her a chance to spend some down time with Colin, something she never felt she had enough of.

Being the youngest of six kids wasn't always easy, Sara knew. As a little guy, and the youngest boy in the family with three much older brothers, he felt left out at times. Sara admitted to babying him slightly. He was, after all, her youngest child, and the last kid they planned on having. Because of his speech impediment and subsequent teasing at school on occasion, Sara was even more protective of him. All the kids were most protective of little Colin. Having five older brothers and sisters to look out for him certainly was a perk.

"Mom," Colin started, his voice quite serious as they climbed back into the family van. "I almost punched someone today."

The confession certainly caught Sara off guard, her hand pausing halfway to the ignition in shock. "What, baby?"

"I almost p-punched someone," he repeated as he buckled his seatbelt. Sara did the same, much slower than usual, even though they were in a hurry.

Sara often wondered why his youngest son picked the oddest moments to make confessions about his life. Once, they were in line at an amusement park to get on a roller coaster, when he'd blurted that he hated taking piano lessons. Completely random, given the time, but Sara just figured he had to get things off his chest when he had a parent to himself.

She began to pull out of the driveway as she crinkled her eyebrows in confusion. Almost punching somebody? "What happened, Colin?"

"W-well," he began, totally calm and collected. "Andrew Buchman started making fun of me at lunch cause we had a substitute today and she didn't know about me and Ms. Marshall's secret s-signal about asking me a question, and she called on me, and I got all nervous. S-so at lunch, he started making fun of me and I really really really felt like punching him, but I didn't."

Because of Colin's speech problem, which often got worse if he was stressed or nervous, his third grade teacher had worked out a special plan. In order to help him feel prepared and not be so nervous about being called on out of the blue, Ms. Marshall would touch her right ear when the next question would be for Colin. It worked wonders for his nervousness. He didn't spend the whole day worrying if he would be called on at any time, and he had ample warning that the next question would be his. But with substitute teachers, it didn't always work so well.

"Well, I'm very proud that you didn't punch him," Sara started off as she began driving down their street. "You did the right thing. Did you tell him not to make fun of you?"

"Uh-huh," Colin said, looking out the window, then back at his mother. "He just laughed but then he left me alone."

"Well we've talked about hitting," Sara said gently, wondering what it was like for him in school all day with people who didn't understand the way his family did. "But you're a really grown up kid, you know that. You handled the situation really well."

"I know," he said, agreeing that hitting wasn't right. "I don't really like fighting that much. Unlike some people."

Colin knew his brothers and sisters better than just about anyone, his parents included, because he was one of them. He was the most unique of all the children, having grown up quite a bit smaller than the boys and not being a girl like the twins made him a bit more of a loaner than the older kids. His favorite pastimes were things like reading, watching TV, playing video games—stuff you did alone. But, he knew his siblings and surely at least two of them were fighting about something at that very moment...

"Daddy said you can't get on till Friday!" Jordan yelled at her twin sister who was trying to get her off the computer.

Marley had waited until the very instant she'd seen her mother's car pull out of the driveway and had gone running upstairs only to find the computer already occupied. "C'mon Jordan just let me have it for a half hour while Mom's at Colin's appointment with him."

"NO!" Jordan shouted, feeling frustrated that her sister was trying to get her to bend the rules for her yet again. "It's _my_ turn, anyway."

"It is _not_!" Marley argued back, though she knew she wasn't supposed to be on at all. She was the type of child who could be a perfect angel in front of adults, but as soon as they turned their backs, she was doing something she wasn't supposed to. Nick and Sara knew this fact very well, and while they tried their best to keep an eye on her, it wasn't always possible because they both held full time jobs at CSI. However, since they had five other kids, someone usually ratted her out either accidentally or on purpose when she was up to something.

Marley put her hands up in front of her sister's eyes so she couldn't see the screen and was pushed away angrily. "Quit it NOW or I'm calling Dad!"

Marley mocked her words in a whiny tone but stopped tormenting Jordan. She was in enough trouble already and didn't need her father on her case yet again. Her mother was usually very busy when she got home, so she might be able to sneak on later anyway. Marley gave up for the time being and plopped herself down on her bed, which her mother insisted she made every morning.

It was getting harder and harder to share a room with her twin sister, now they were getting older. Jordan was still into lots of little girly things, like ballet, and the color pink (which was all over her side of the room), and all her dolls were still on display. Marley knew her side of the room was much cooler. Her Jonas Brothers poster hung above her Camp Rock bedspread, and a corkboard with pictures of her friends and her favorite movie stars hung above her slightly cluttered desk. They'd begged their parents to let them move into the basement once both Brandon and Noah moved out, but they said no. It didn't seem fair at all that Charlie got the entire basement bedroom to himself – just one person – when they were practically falling over each other, in each other's 'personal bubble' all the time.

Marley noticed her sister move the computer screen slightly so she couldn't get a good look at what she was doing. Not that she really cared what Jordan was up to, but the move made her very curious. "Hey, can I borrow your cell phone for just a minute?"

"No," Jordan answered, after hesitating a bit. "Cause you won't give it back until you get your phone back from Mom."

"But I haven't talked to Aaron all day because he wasn't in school and I miss him!" Marley said, playing the 'missing her boyfriend' card. "And I promise I won't keep it. Just let me use it while you're on the computer and I'll give it back when you get off. You don't need both at the same time."

"Fine," Jordan said, seeing an opportunity to get her sister out of her hair for a little while. "But only if you promise to go to Mom and Dad's room and leave me alone for a while."

"Why?" Marley asked her twin as Jordan produced the phone. Jordan wouldn't pass it to her though, and just gave her a scowl. "Fine, I'll go."

Marley rushed out of the room quickly as soon as Jordan had passed her the phone. Jordan rolled her eyes and leaned towards the door, "You're welcome!"

"What's she welcome for?" Jordan heard the sound of her favorite brother's voice, and couldn't decide if she was happy to see him or frustrated at not getting any privacy.

"She talked me out of my phone," Jordan admitted as she watched her older brother flop on her bed. "I thought you had a class right now?"

"Yeah but I didn't feel like going," Noah said. When Brandon turned eighteen Sara and Nick turned the upstairs of the garage into an apartment for him to live in but he'd since moved out, leaving the apartment to Noah. So, while he didn't live very far away Noah still had his own place with its own set of keys and Sara and Nick didn't just let themselves in whenever they wanted, but he came over to hang out with the family all the time. As they'd grown up Noah and Jordan had developed a bond that She didn't have with the other brothers, a sort of friendship.

"You should go to class," Jordan warned him. "If Mom and Dad find out you're skipping they won't pay your tuition."

"As long as I pass what does it matter?" Noah asked, defensively. "I figure I can miss so many days without it hurting my average."

"If you say so," Jordan commented, absently. She closed down the screen she was looking at on the computer and pulled another up instead. "But what if you miss something important?"

"Jordan," he said teasingly. "You know you can still bend the rules without failing right? I mean, you don't always have to do everything exactly by the book. Break a rule or two. Take a risk. It makes life a whole lot less stressful."

Noah constantly tried to get his little sister to loosen up a little bit. She was a great kid, but sometimes he worried she was overly concerned with rules. Jordan rarely got in trouble, and when she did, you'd think the world had ended. In first grade, she got in trouble one day for forgetting her homework and she'd bawled to her mother for over a half hour. Her interest in following the rules was a sharp contrast to her twin, who got in trouble like it was her job.

He sighed and leaned forward on his elbows, knowing Jordan didn't like to be reminded constantly of her goody goody nature. Noah wasn't sure anyone should be taking his advice about bending the rules anyway. One of the reasons he still lived at home as a freshman in college was because he'd been kicked out of the dorms for getting caught with pot. He'd made a mistake, and bent the rules a little too much, and this year he was paying for it. His parents had refused to pay to let him stay in a house with a few buddies right off the WLVU campus as punishment, so he had to make do with living at home a while longer. Not that it was horrible to spend more time around his family, but he was eighteen years old and anxious to be on his own.

Jordan kept her eyes focused on the screen, so Noah could tell she was up to something very important. What was so important to an eleven year old, he wasn't sure, but he was always one to respect his little sister's privacy. "Anyways," he decided to change the subject. "I'm gonna go downstairs and do my laundry."

As he stood up, Noah noticed her turn the monitor even further away from him, as if she didn't want him to see what she was doing. "What are you looking at?" He asked, but made no attempt to try to find out. Noah wouldn't do that to his sister.

"Something private," she answered evasively, avoiding his eyes. Noah studied her for a few moments, wondering what exactly she was up to. He wasn't sure why, but something about the way she was acting didn't sit right with him. If had been Marley being all evasive, he would have pried more, but he trusted Jordan implicitly. It was probably just silly middle school girl stuff anyway.

"Alright," he dismissed it. "I'll be around if you need me."

Noah wandered down the stairs, Jordan's business still on his mind. He admitted that he nosed into Marley's privacy sometimes but Jordan had a habit of telling him everything eventually, so he never felt the need to go through her things. But there was something really off about the way she was acting that made him concerned, though he decided just to be around for the rest of the day in case she needed him and to let her solve her own problem, or whatever it was, by herself.

He had just finished turning on the washing machine when he heard a voice calling into the house. It was his older brother, and the only one of the six kids that was older than him. "Hey Brandon, I'm in the laundry room," he called.

"What are you doing here?" Brandon asked, coming in as he looked around to see if anyone else was home. "And who all's here?"

"Just us and the girls I think," Noah answered. "I think Charlie's at work and so is Dad, still. And Sara had to take Colin for his appointment."

"Oh, cool," Brandon said, absently. "So what are you up to tonight?"

"I'm actually gonna hang out at home," Noah admitted. When Brandon gave him a disbelieving laugh he added, "The girls are up to something. I'm not sure if Marley's in on it or not, but something's up."

"You mean Jordan," Brandon corrected his younger brother, who was an inch taller than him.

"What?" Noah said, sounding a bit confused.

"You said you weren't sure if Marley was in on it," Brandon clarified. "You meant Jordan."

"No," Noah said, barely believing it himself. "I meant Marley. Anyway, I wanna be home in case she needs help or something."

"I'm gonna be here all night," Brandon offered, having always felt that his duties as oldest brother were the most important but while he had a good relationship with Marley and could butter Colin up to talk to him about things didn't mean he was as effective on Jordan. It was something Noah always wondered if Brandon resented. "I could do damage control on whatever it is for you."

"Nah," Noah responded gently—not wanting to tell his brother that he'd rather have a semi-responsible adult at home that she trusted best of all her siblings than one she barely knew anymore."I don't have anything better to do anyway."

"Alright man, whatever," Brandon responded as he headed into the kitchen to grab a snack. Despite the fact neither he nor Noah technically lived at home, Nick and Sara semi-regularly fed all six children. The oldest Stokes child was just about to graduate from college, and had kept Molly Brown as a serious girlfriend throughout the past six years. He knew both their families wouldn't want them to move past being just boyfriend and girlfriend in college, so there had been no talks of marriage just yet, but Brandon knew she was the one. "Where's Marley anyway?"

"She blew past me in the hallway upstairs with what looked like Jordan's cell phone," Noah plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote. "Must be grounded from her own phone and trying to do her dirty business when the 'rents aren't home."

Brandon cleared his throat and walked to the bottom of the stairs. He sounded an awful lot like his father when he yelled if he got the Texan accent just right. He decided to give Marley a scare. "Marley Nicole Stokes! Get your butt down here!"

Brandon and Noah heard some scrambling upstairs, heard a door open and then shut again, and then Marley appeared at the top of the stairs, looking thoroughly concerned. When she saw her oldest brother her worried face turned into a huge smile. "Brandon!" She exclaimed and bolted down the stairs. Marley careened into him, and was enveloped in a warm brotherly hug.

"What's up, little woman?" He asked, hardly able to believe his baby sisters were now in middle school. It didn't seem possible that they weren't still in kindergarten or first grade. While he loved college, he definitely missed being able to watch his younger brothers and sisters grow up and getting to hang out with them.

"Not much," she replied, stepping back. "You scared the shit out of me!" Marley felt free to cuss with no parents around.

Brandon captured his sister around the neck with his arm and mussed up her hair as she squealed. "You're a little monster."

"If I'm a monster what does that make you? We have half the same genes," Marley pulled out of Brandon's grasp and gave Noah a hug too, even though she saw him almost every day, she felt a little bad making a big deal over Brandon without being happy to see Noah too. "So, what are you guys doing here?"

"I'm doing laundry," Noah announced, gesturing towards the laundry room where his wash was already running, "and I'm gonna hang out for dinner."

"Yeah and I'm here cause I felt like stopping by," Brandon answered, sitting down on the couch and lounging on it. "And I had kinda wanted to talk to dad about something."

"You didn't bring Molly with you?" Noah and Marley asked in unison, both noticing she wasn't there at the same time, and surprised.

"I don't always have her with me you know," Brandon defended himself, feeling a little embarrassed. He had to admit that he and Molly did spend a lot of time together even when they were just going home to see family. Brandon was as comfortable in her home as he was in his own, a perk that comes with dating someone you've known since the day they were born. "Actually I think she's at Chandler's and besides it was Molly that I had wanted to talk to dad about."

"Ooohhhhh," Marley and Noah said in unison again, then both looking at each other in surprise that they'd done it twice in the past two minutes.

"Trouble in paradise?" Noah asked, teasing his brother further.

"No," Brandon answered. "It's nothing like that, I just kinda wanted to ask dad about something. I'll tell you about it later."

"Sure whatever," Marley said, feeling bored with her brothers. "I'm gonna go back upstairs and talk to Aaron."

"You've sure been talking to Aaron a lot lately, haven't you?" Noah asked her, much more interested in getting in her business. Marley was much more likely to actually be hiding something, and he liked to watch out for her.

"So what?" Marley replied, heading towards the stairs. She loved her brothers, but she did not like them getting in her business, especially when it came to boys. They seemed to feel entitled to do so, and it really bugged her sometimes, especially when she had a secret. Nobody knew but her twin sister Jordan, but recently Aaron had become her boyfriend.

This was not something she wanted to share with anyone in her family, not only because her brothers would probably tease her relentlessly, but because it also wasn't technically allowed. Nick and Sara allowed the girls to hang out with boys if they were in groups, and with adult supervision, but never one on one. Because of this, she and Aaron had never been on a date per se, but at school they held hands in the hallway, and they had kissed a couple times when they got a private moment after school. A couple times Marley had gotten permission to go to a friend's house after school but instead had met up with Aaron at the park. She didn't worry so much about getting caught like Jordan worried about everything. If it happened, it happened. Marley had already decided she liked having fun, and didn't care about the consequences.

Marley disappeared up the stairs and headed into her own room this time to see if Jordan was finished yet. Luckily, she was, and was now sitting on her bed doing some homework. Her twin got lots more homework than she did. If Marley was in the "smart class" like her sister, she would probably go insane. Jordan had always been way too into school. In fourth grade when they had the opportunity to take a test to get in the accelerated class, Nick and Sara had both their girls take it. Both had qualified, but Marley had no interest in doing several hours of homework every night, or having to do any more work than necessary. She liked the pace of a regular classroom, and Jordan seemed to like having no life at all. School and ballet – that was all she did – and while Marley loved her sister, she also thought she was a little insane.

Marley started dialing Aaron's number on the cell phone, having memorized it by heart quite some time ago. Jordan sighed loudly and glared at her sister. "Can't you do that somewhere else?"

"It's my room too," Marley pointed out.

"Yeah and that's MY phone," Jordan reminded her sister a little loudly. "And, this is my room too as you so politely pointed out so... can I have my phone back?"

Marley made an indeterminable statement about something and flopped down on her own bed and typing a text message. "Can't I just hold on to it for a little longer?"

"You promised," Jordan told her. "Besides you can have the computer now, isn't that what you wanted anyway."

"Fine," Marley said, tossing the cell phone back to her sister and flopping down at the desk. It had taken her all of fourteen seconds to be logged into three different forms of messenger and chatting in four windows.

After a few minutes of mindless talk with one of her friends about the graduated cylinder they'd broken in science class that day an alert popped up indicating that Jordan had received an email. Marley, who wasn't nearly as reserved about nosing into her sister's business as Noah was, clicked on the little pop-up and opened Jordan's email account. She clicked on the most recent message, one from someone named: JustSK8Rin.

_Hey_

_How wuz ur day? U been thinkin about me? I've been thinkin about u all day, I can't get u outta my head. It's like ur some sort of drug, I swear I've never felt this way b4. I can't wait to meet u. I've been counting the hrs but it seems like it's gonna be forever. I need u, now._

_Luv u 4evr,_

_Justin._

Marley tried to hide the confusion from her face as she read through the email another time. It was dangerous business reading her twin's email with her sitting just seven feet away but she couldn't help it. The material was golden! How long had her sister had a secret boyfriend? And how should she handle the knowledge? There were a few choices. Confront her sister, forcing her to give up details. Print off and save any emails she could find from the guy, make copies, and blackmail blackmail blackmail! Or she could do nothing and respect her sister's right to a private life. She laughed out loud at the last thought, what a waste!

"Who the hell is this Justin guy?" She asked her sister straight up, wanting to know the details. Jordan knew about her secret boyfriend, so Marley thought it was only fair her sister should have to dish out the details.

Jordan's face showed how stunned and embarrassed she was at Marley's question. She immediately rose from her seat, going through a variety of emotions. Shock, for one, that Marley somehow knew about Justin. Anger because she seemed to think it was her business, and a variety of others flashed across her mind. "What are you _doing_?!"

She crossed the room in a second and saw that Marley had pulled up her email. "How did you get into my email?!"

Marley just laughed and scrolled through the message so Jordan could see. "It's not that hard to figure out. Iloveballet? C'mon, I've known your password for months."

Jordan looked like she could kill her sister at that moment. Her privacy had been invaded, and had been for quite a while without her knowledge. She'd been so careful about hiding all her email messages with Justin for this very reason. Marley was conniving and sneaky. All her emails from Justin she'd put in an email folder marked "homework", but all this effort apparently didn't matter. She really hated having to share a computer sometimes.

"How could you _do _that?" She demanded, giving her sister a shove. Jordan pushed her arm away from the mouse and took it, then closed the email. "It's not your business!"

"Take a chill pill!" Marley told her, standing up. "I just wanted some details. I'm not gonna tell Mom and Dad. Are you gonna meet him?"

"Not your business," Jordan reiterated as she sat down at the computer again. She went to her email settings and decided she needed to change her password. Marley realized her sister needed some space so she plopped back down on her bed, away from the computer.

"How old is he?"

"Not your business!!" Jordan snapped.

Her sister wasn't usually this evasive about anything, which was very odd. Marley made a dismissive sound, laid down and stared at the ceiling. She dished out all the details about Aaron, and she couldn't do the same?

"Jordan have you even met this guy yet?" Marley said, starting to worry that her sister was up to something a little more dangerous than she had initially thought. Hadn't her sister heard all the horror stories about stuff like this?

"Let me spell it out for you," Jordan said, rolling her eyes at her sister. "N-O-T Y-O-U-R--"

"I get it, I get it," Marley interrupted her. She minimized her aim windows and moved to sit on Jordan's bed with her. "But I'm serious, how much do you know about this guy? And are you gonna see him?"

Jordan flopped her books closed and looked up at her sister trying to figure out why she wouldn't just drop it. "How many times do I have to tell you? It's none of your business."

"I'm serious Jordan," Marley answered, ready to play the big cards. Though it had stopped being a game to her the moment she thought Jordan may not really know this guy. "If you don't give me some answers, and the truth, I'm gonna tell Mom and Dad."

"You wouldn't," Jordan dared her sister, settling herself on the bed and sitting up to look scarier.

"I would," Marley double dared.

"I'll tell them about Aaron," Jordan said, giving a smirk. Jordan was widely known as the most polite, well behaved, and even tempered of all of the kids in the family but she also had the capacity to be the most evil. "And we both know you're not willing to risk that."

Marley was quiet as she went through a wave of emotions. Fear was one of them. First the fear that her sister might actually honor her word and expose her secret relationship with Aaron. She wasn't ready for her parents to know yet. Also the fear that her sister really didn't know what she was getting herself into and that she could put herself in danger. Someone should at least know if that was going to happen, just in case. Another was anger because her sister was so willing to do something that would hurt her when she only meant well. But mostly she felt betrayed. Her twin sister had a secret and she wasn't allowed to know what it was.

After thinking about it for a few moments Marley decided that her sister meant more to her than her boyfriend, no matter how much she was going to regret making that choice later on. If Jordan was about to do what she thought she was it was a big deal. A grown up deal—and it scared her. Their parents should know. "Fine," she stated slowly. "If that's the way you're going to play it then fine tell Mom and Dad, see if I care. At least I'll still have a sister. I'm telling them when they get home."

"No you won't," Jordan said slowly, staring at her sister with a look of pure hate. She couldn't believe her twin sister, of all people, was the one who didn't understand her. For weeks now, she'd kept Marley's secret about Aaron under wraps, and this is what she got? Her own twin ready to rat on her?

"Watch me," Marley answered, equally as determined. She crossed her arms over her chest and held her sister's fiery gaze. Admittedly, Marley was sometimes a brat and liked to cause her sister problems just because she could, but this time was different. This was about Jordan's safety, and she didn't want her to be on the evening news as the latest kidnap victim.

"Who do you think you are, Marley? Really?" Jordan demanded, her eyes welling up with tears. All she wanted to do was meet the boy she'd been talking to online. It wasn't like she was being unsafe about it. She was planning on meeting him in a public place. He was only one year older than she was, and went to another middle school in town. He'd sent pictures, and she'd even talked to him on the phone a couple times. What could possibly happen if she were to meet him for ice cream in downtown Las Vegas in the light of day?

"I'm your twin sister, and I don't want you to get hurt," Marley replied. "You're being ridiculous."

"Marley, I'm gonna meet him at Baskin Robbins downtown in the daytime!" Jordan explained. "He's twelve years old and he's really trustworthy."

"How do you know he's twelve years old? What if he's some psycho fifty year old kidnapper?" Marley pointed out wisely. Though she hated to admit, Marley had indeed been listening to her parents all these years and their rants about their safety. It was like Jordan had forgotten everything their parents had warned them about. She seemed to be blind to the danger.

"I talked to him on the phone, Marley, and he sounded like a kid," Jordan quipped, storming back over to her computer. She quickly pulled up a picture of Justin and turned the screen so her sister could see it.

"How do you know it's really gonna be him? What if he has an accomplice and they have a big white van and they just snatch you up and take you away?"

"Don't you hear yourself? You're acting ridiculous!" Jordan accused her, getting very frustrated. Why couldn't Marley understand? Why couldn't she see everything was going to be okay?

"I don't care. I'm telling Mom and Dad."

Both girls heard the garage door opening and knew at least one of their parents was now home. They stared at each other for a few long moments, neither ready to back down. Jordan could tell her sister was serious about telling their mom and dad. Her threat about Aaron didn't seem to be working at all, so she knew she'd have to take a different route if she ever wanted to meet Justin.

"Fine. I won't meet him if you promise not to tell," Jordan offered. She would figure out a way to get to him tomorrow somehow, but if Marley blabbed about it now, her parents would put her on a total lockdown.

"You promise?" Marley asked, Jordan nodded. Marley's shoulders relaxed a bit and she sighed in relief. "I just want to know you're okay Jor, it's kinda part of the whole sharing a womb for nine months thing."

"Okay," Jordan answered, calming down herself. In all of their years of being sisters they hadn't ever broken a promise to each other. Especially not over something this big. "Look I'm sorry I didn't want to tell you but it's kinda a big deal to me. I've never had a boyfriend before."

"I've never had one before Aaron either," Marley answered. "And it's a big deal to me. Why do you think I want to talk to you about it all the time? You are my best friend after all."

"I know," Jordan admitted, relaxing a bit more with her sister. She always hated fighting with Marley. "But you have so many friends and so many boys that like you all the time. It's different."

"You have friends," Marley told her, pointing to a photograph of Jordan with two of her friends from that summer. "And that's not the way to meet a guy anyway. You can't honestly say you like a guy you've never seen before, can you?"

"He gets me," Jordan answered with a sigh. "He's sweet and funny and he and I can stay up talking for hours. He likes me. What more do I need?"

"I dunno," Marley said, making a funny face. "Someone who's not thirty?"

"He's not," Marley countered. "He's twelve. You don't think I'd actually seriously consider meeting someone who was thirty, do you? I'm not stupid."

"And exactly how old does he think you are?" Marley asked, trying to prove her point. "I bet you lied about that."

"I said I was in seventh grade like him," Jordan admitted. "But that's just a small lie. He's the one who said how old he was first. I'll tell him the truth if you want, he won't be mad."

"You're still gonna talk to him?" Marley asked, feeling very angry. Didn't her sister get it? This wasn't safe. "You promised."

"I promised not to go meet him," Jordan corrected her. "But what's the harm in talking to him some more? He makes me happy."

Jordan felt awful, because she knew that tomorrow, she would try to meet Justin. She wasn't quite sure how she would go about it just yet, but there was no way she was going to miss this chance. Justin really did care for her. Marley was just freaked out because of all the horror stories they'd caught wind of over the years from their parents. They never went into detail, but every time their mother or father came home and instantly had to give them all a hug, and stay close by, all the kids knew something had happened to a child. Because of this, Jordan understood she had to be careful, and she was.

Marley pulled her sister into a hug, something they didn't do quite as often any more. "Just promise me you're being careful."

Jordan hugged her sister back tightly. It was nice to feel so cared about, even though this whole conversation had been unnecessary. "I promise, Marley," she said simply, not elaborating. Jordan didn't like to lie.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Nick had arrived home from his shift to find his two oldest sons. It was a nice surprise to see both of them, as it always was. He knew his boys well, though, and knew getting dinner also had something to do with it. After doing a little catch-up in the living room, Nick stood up to start cooking the dinner.

"I assume you boys want in on the dinner plans?" He smirked at both of them.

"Of course," Brandon grinned, and stood up also. He really wanted to talk to his dad, and doing it over cooking would be the perfect time, while everyone was off doing their own thing. "Can I help?"

"I'd never turn down help. Sure," Nick agreed. "I'm gonna go check on the girls first to tell 'em I'm home. Could you get out the chicken from the fridge and start cutting it up?"

"Alright," he agreed as Nick began to climb the stairs to the girls' room. It was obvious from their door what stage of life they were in. Magazine cutouts of teenage boys plastered it, along with some pictures of their friends. The door was closed, so he knocked first.

Marley told him to come in a moment later, so he pushed it open. Both girls had a look of slight concern on their faces. "Just thought I'd let you two know I was home," he said, looking back and forth between them. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, we were just talking," Marley said, and gave him a smile, hoping it would deter any more questions.

"What about?" He asked, not wanting to nose into his daughters' privacy but feeling curious. Judging by the looks on their faces and the fact that they were both seated on Jordan's bed, he could tell that they'd just gotten over a fight.

"School, friends, stuff," Marley commented with a shrug. Everyday things that they talked, and sometimes fought, about on a regular basis. Nick had a feeling it was something more specific than that but as long as they were getting along, it didn't matter.

"How were your days?" He asked, leaning his back against the door frame. "You guys learn or do anything out of the ordinary or anything?"

"Nothing exciting today Dad," Jordan told him and rolled her eyes. "There's not much out of the ordinary that ever does happen at our school. It's kind of a boring place."

"You think so?" Nick asked, remembering how much fun he'd had when in middle and high school. Of course it had been hard to get through middle, but nobody ever remembered those days fondly. He'd played sports and always had a few friends and in the end he'd realized it wasn't so bad. It was just a plus that he'd enjoyed learning. "I always kinda liked school, I thought it was sort of exciting."

"It is I guess," Jordan, the one who was more academically inclined, agreed with him. "But when you do the same thing every day it gets a little old too."

"Yeah you don't have that problem," Marley informed him. "Because with your job you're always working on a different case. You're always learning new things and going new places and meeting new people."

"I don't have a future CSI on my hands," Nick asked Marley playfully. "Do I?"

The thought had crossed his and Sara's minds more than once that their kids might go into law enforcement or something similar one day. They'd even had a bet going as to which child was most likely to go the route of CSI like both of their parents. For the time being the pool was mostly between Charlie and Chandler Brown though. He'd have to amend the placement of his money in that pool if Marley had an interest. If she was interested in it, she'd do it.

"I dunno," Marley admitted. "I mean it is really cool what you guys do. I know you won't talk about it too much with us but I watch _Law & Order_. I know people really die and stuff. I think it's cool that you and mom are the ones that get to tell their families how and why it happened."

"That's called closure," Jordan butted in. She'd been given a writing prompt that day in Honors Language Arts that had to do with closure. "When a person or group of people know the reason for something and can get over it."

"It's not just about closure though," Nick said, taking a seat on the bed across from his daughters. He'd had the experience with Brandon, Noah, and Charlie already and knew that the girls and Colin were going to have questions about his job eventually. Though, with the boys it had taken them all until they'd reached high school to start seriously asking. "It's about evidence, law, and justice. And, you don't always get closure or justice. Sometimes the bad guys get away and you have nothing to say to the family other than that you weren't good enough."

"But you and mom always solve your cases," Marley said, sounding a bit upset. "Right?"

"Not always," Nick admitted to his daughter regrettably. "Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we try really hard but the evidence just isn't there. What your mom and I do isn't exactly like what they do on TV it's a lot more involved than that. We look for clues that will help us figure out the whole story. We do a lot of paper work and a lot of research and a lot of testing and experimenting. Your mom and I are the ones that find the pieces and put the puzzle together but sometimes it's not as easy as starting with the corners and working your way to the middle. There are times when a piece of evidence isn't a piece of the puzzle at all—it's more like a clue as to where we can find the next clue to the next piece."

"And sometimes you can't follow the clues?" Marley asked. "I guess I never thought about it like a puzzle before. I always just thought you went out and caught bad guys... I never thought about how."

"Me either," Jordan admitted. "I think I get it though. You have to find the proof that the bad guys are the ones responsible for what happened to the good guys?"

"Victims," Marley corrected her sister. "Right dad? Because sometimes the people who died aren't good guys either?"

"I don't decide who's a good guy or a bad guy," Nick told his daughters. "I deal with suspects and, yes Marley, victims. The judge and jury in a court are the ones that decide who's bad and who's not."

"Do you ever get scared?" Jordan asked. She couldn't ever do her parent's job, she knew. Because she'd always be too afraid to be around someone who could kill another person. Or, as much as she hated to admit it, a dead person either. The idea freaked her out.

"All the time," Nick admitted, speaking to his eleven year old daughters like the adults they were being. "Your Mom does too, sometimes. It's a scary job with scary people and scary situations. Sometimes you can't help but be scared."

"Then why do you do it?" Marley asked, honestly She sat up and looked her father in the eye, not looking frightened at all, she was purely curious.

"Because we've got six kids at home who are proud of us for what we do," Nick told her, giving both of his daughters a comforting smile. "And because we want to make the world a safer place for them and our friends and their families."

"Oh, okay," Marley said, obviously still very much in thought.

"You guys have any other questions?" Nick asked, feeling as though it was about time to end the conversation at least until he talked to Sara about it. The girls were a lot younger than the boys had been when they'd started asking things and even they had never seemed as willing to listen as Marley and Jordan were being right now. There was a lot that even Brandon didn't know about what they did and Sara and Nick had intended to keep it that way... but maybe it was time to talk a little more openly with the kids about their work. They could be honest without giving the children more information than necessary.

"No," Jordan said. "Not right now anyway."

"Me either," Marley agreed, still taking in the information her father had given her. "But do you think I could ask you some more things later?"

"Absolutely," Nick agreed as he stood up and made his way over to the door. "You girls know you can ask me anything, right?"

"We know," they called back in unison as he descended down the hall and stairs.

Just as Nick reached the bottom of the stairs, the side door opened, and his wife and youngest son stepped inside. Sara looked exhausted, but she smiled at him nevertheless. "Hi, baby," she said, ushering Colin towards the living room.

"Hey," he winked at her as Colin approached him for a hug. By the time Brandon had hit nine years old, he was already getting weird about giving his father hugs, but not Colin. He was still very much the lovable, huggable Stokes son.

"Dad, look what my speech therapist gave me!" Colin said to his father, holding up a Tootsie Roll Pop for him to see. Nick smirked at him – he as so easy to please. "Cause I did so well today."

"Oh, yum," he commented and pretended like he was going to stick in his back pocket for himself. "Grape is my favorite."

"That's for after dinner," Sara reminded him as she let her purse plop down on the kitchen counter. It was then that she saw her oldest stepson, Brandon, busy cooking some chicken on the stove. "Brandon! I didn't know you were coming over!"

She quickly walked around the island and enveloped him in a hug. "Sorry, I wasn't really planning on it. I would've let you know," he said as he hugged Sara.

"Oh, I'm not complaining," Sara cleared up as she pulled back with her hands still on his strong shoulders. Brandon had matured immeasurably since he'd left for college. He held a steady girlfriend, did well academically, and continued to make Nick and Sara proud. "I feel like I haven't seen you in such a long time."

"It's been a week, Sara," he chuckled a little as Sara mussed up his hair slightly.

"When kids leave the nest it's hard, okay?" She smiled as she turned around to finally get to greet her husband properly. They made eye contact as she walked the few steps between them, their relationship still so full of passion and love, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. The couple, now married almost thirteen years, shared a short, but amorous kiss. Nick rested his hands on her hips as they broke the kiss. They grinned at each other as they let their foreheads touch for a few moments of peace. While they didn't have any toddlers running around the house to worry about, their lives still felt very hectic and filled. But they wouldn't have it any other way.

"How was your afternoon?" Nick asked her softly.

"Well," she smiled. "In the hour and fourteen minutes since I last saw you, it's been pretty swell."

"Smartass," he bantered.

"I thought you liked my ass?" Sara raised one eyebrow in question. Nick couldn't help but laugh at her comment and replied, "Touché."

After another quick kiss, they pulled away from each other so they could get on with their household responsibilities. "Dad, what are we making anyway?" Brandon asked as he continued to cook the chicken on the stovetop.

"Enchiladas," he said as Sara walked out the kitchen to talk with Noah, who was watching television.

"Cool," he nodded as Nick got a few more items out of the cabinets to make the dinner with. "Uh, Dad? Could I talk to you about something?"

"Oh right," Nick said, moving into the kitchen to help his son with supper. He started mixing up the Enchilada sauce as he glanced up at his oldest son. A grown man now. "What's up?"

"Well," Brandon started out. Not knowing exactly how to phrase what he had to say. "I guess I don't know how to start this conversation."

"Well Brand," Nick started gently, wondering what it was. He and Sara had been ready for the last couple of years for one of two big conversations with Brandon. One, he was either marrying Molly or intending to ask. The other—they were pregnant. Nick couldn't help but wonder if this conversation was going to be either of those. "Whatever it is, I'm listening."

"Okay," Brandon said, preparing himself. "Well, I've been thinking and I think I'd like to go into the Army."

"Wow," Nick said, feeling a little blown away. His first instinct was to tell Brandon that he wasn't allowed to join and end the conversation there. But, Brandon was an adult and had come to him for his input and advice, not permission necessarily. "Well, talk to me. Why?"

"Well," Brandon started slowly. "I've done a lot of thinking about it and I think it's a good idea. I mean, I know where you and Sara stand on the subject but there's still a lot to consider. Like paying for grad school--"

Nick cut him off, "Yeah but buddy you know that Sara and I'll help you with that."

"Yeah me and five other kids," Brandon reasoned. "And besides, I wasn't talking about for me per-se. Molly's going to be in Med school in a couple years and we don't want to rely on you and the Browns for the rest of our lives. It'd be a good, healthy, salary to supplement whatever I start out making when I graduate. It just makes sense."

"Well I'm really proud of you for thinking things through," Nick stated, honestly. He was proud to have raised the kind of son who wanted to do what he had to take care of his wife—or future wife. "But you and Molly aren't even engaged yet and we don't mind helping you out, both of you. You're both family."

"Yeah but we will be married at some point," Brandon pointed out. "I'm pretty sure we all know that's just a matter of time and, once I graduate there won't be much more to wait for. And, the Army's a good honest living. Jared's in the Army and you now Mom would support me in this. Plus I've got like four cousins who served. So...I mean you can't say it's not in my blood."

Nick had since completely stopped stirring the enchilada sauce and focused solely on his conversation with Brandon. To say this had come out of the blue would be an understatement, and he was somewhat of a loss as to what to say to him. He was pretty sure that Sara would be devastated to have Brandon put in possible danger, and he didn't know how they'd handle it as a family.

"But Brandon…" he didn't want to doubt his son or dismiss his wishes but he had to point out some things. "It's the Army. You could die. It's not just about getting money for Med school, man, it's your life."

"I realize that, Dad," Brandon said, having thought through his options and their implications for weeks. "But I could die tomorrow in a car crash, or get hit by a meteor. Just because I join the Army doesn't mean I'm gonna die."

Nick scratched the back of his head with his fingers. He again felt the instinct to put his hands on his son's shoulders, shake a little sense into him, and put his foot down. Nick respected that he wanted to serve his country and support his future family, but the father in him was scared. All he could do was picture Brandon as a little four year old kid, running around the backyard in his Superman cape and underwear. He didn't belong overseas getting shot at; he belonged at home.

"Brandon," Nick lowered his voice slightly. "I don't know if Sara could handle that." He told his son honestly.

Brandon sighed heavily and leaned back against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms over his chest. "I know you don't approve, and I know Sara won't either. But I feel like this is something I need to do."

What could Nick do? He couldn't order his son not to join – he was twenty two years old. He could drink, smoke, marry, and yes – die for his country. "How does Molly feel about this?"

Brandon scrubbed a hand over his face, remembering their numerous conversations about the subject. Of course she didn't want him to go, but she understood where he was coming from. They were about to start their lives together, and she got that he wanted to be a man and support the family. But that still didn't mean she liked the idea or didn't try to talk him out of it constantly. "She hates the idea."

"Well," Nick sighed as he turned around to tend to the sauce again. "I think you've still got a lot of thinking to do. You know I'll support you in whatever decision you make, but promise me you're gonna do a lot of thinking about this, okay?"

"I promise," Brandon told his father, and held out his arm for a hug. Now that he was past his teenage phase of life, Brandon was all about hugs again. He wasn't ashamed to show affection, and now that he was grown he appreciated his parents more. Not every guy had a father who would listen and be so level-headed about the prospect of his son joining the Army. "Thanks for listening."

"You're welcome," he told his son. "But don't go mentioning this to Sara unless you're absolutely certain, alright? I'm not sure how she'll react."

"React to what?" Sara's voice interrupted their private conversation. The two men turned to see Sara standing in the entryway of the kitchen, with several dirty dishes in hand.

"Sara," Nick said, startled and feeling guilty because he'd just suggested to Brandon that they keep something from her. As a rule Nick and Sara never kept secrets from one another. Generally unless it was a secret that one of the kids really needed them to keep, they both saw it as lying. "Uh, well Brandon and I were just discussing something."

"I get that," she told him playfully. "But what was it that you were discussing?"

"Sara," Brandon cut in. "I promise you I'll talk with you about it. But, it's something I'd rather talk to you about in private. And, I promise you it's not a bad thing or anything too life altering. Okay?"

"Okay kid," Sara said as she put an arm around him and pulled him into a hug. Of all of the kids Brandon was the one that had always been the most open to giving Sara affection, even while he was a teen and wasn't as snuggly with Nick. "I guess I'll have to settle for being curious for a while. You know how impatient I can be though..."

"We know," Nick and Brandon both agreed with her simultaneously. Brandon added, "I'm pretty sure that's where Marley gets it."

"Very funny," she said as she swatted him playfully. "I always thought Marley was a little more impatient than I am."

"Maybe just a little," Brandon joked back. Holding up two fingers closely together to show a tiny bit. "But you know she's only eleven and you're... well... a little older than eleven."

Sara just laughed. "Nice save."

Nick had spent the last couple of minutes focused on making the enchilada sauce and hadn't been paying attention to his oldest son and wife but he'd allowed his mind to wander and a thought had come to him. "Hey, what time is Noah's evening class?"

"Uh," Sara said for a moment, grabbing the copy of his schedule from the end of the cabinet where they kept all of the family's schedules and appointments. "Looks like he should just be getting out right now."

Nick furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "That's funny," he commented, though his tone didn't sound so amused. "He's been home for how long, Brandon?"

"Uhhhhh..." Brandon stalled, realizing his younger brother could very well be in big trouble with his parents. "For a little while, I don't know. Maybe his class was cancelled?"

Sara sighed and shook her head as she handed the schedule over to her husband. "It better have been cancelled," she told Nick. "If he's skipping, he has something coming to him."

Nick and Sara didn't like to assume guilt with their kids, but the circumstances were highly suspicious. If the class had been cancelled, Noah probably would have mentioned it to them right away in celebration. But he had said nothing. They paid good money for his tuition. Brandon wanted to join the Army to pay Molly's way through Med School, and Noah was skipping class?

"Noah!" Nick called his son, who was still lounging in the living room, watching television. "Come here a minute, please," he turned to Brandon and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Give us a minute, okay?"

Brandon nodded in understanding and climbed the stairs to go hang out with Colin for a few minutes, who had since gone upstairs also. Noah rolled himself off the couch and dropped the remote back on the chair as he wandered towards the kitchen. His dad's tone had been a bit unreadable, but after eighteen years of being his son, could tell he wasn't entirely happy. Noah walked into the kitchen to find both his parents looking suspicious.

"What?" He asked them.

Nick held up his schedule. "Is there somewhere you were supposed to be this afternoon?" He asked, trying his best to make his tone non-accusatory. Nick wanted to believe his son had an explanation and he wasn't skipping his college classes.

"Scuse me?"

"History 101?" Sara jumped in. "Why weren't you in class?"

Noah knew he could lie and try to get out of it by saying his class was cancelled, or they got out early, but he'd learned over the years that usually just made things worse. His parents had a way of finding out everything. He wasn't sure why his parents thought it was their business, though. He was eighteen years old - a legal adult - and in charge of his own education. Other kids skipped all the time, and he'd only skipped this class twice.

"I didn't feel like it today. It's not a big deal," Noah told his parents, a slight hint of irritation in his voice.

"Not a big deal?" Sara repeated his statement, which was never a good sign. "Noah, we're paying your tuition. It's not cheap, you know."

"I get it that you pay tuition," Noah answered. "And I'll pay you back for it when I can. But did you guys even ASK me if I wanted to go to college? Maybe that's not what I want to do with my life."

"Of course you want to go to college," Sara answered unable to understand the idea that he may not want to go to college. She'd graduated from Harvard and Stanford, in her mind College was an absolute.

"Maybe I don't," Noah spat back. "But I still go to class and make pretty good grades. Just to make you two happy. So, so what if I skip class once in a while. I get three absences in that one... I still have one left. Why have absences if I'm not going to use them?"

"They're in case you get sick," Nick warned him, trying not to lose his temper. "Or in case of an emergency. You're not supposed to miss a class your parents are paying for if you don't absolutely have to."

"Dad," Noah said, trying to calm his father down. "I just wanted to come home and hang out with the family. It's not like I'm skipping class to go off and do something stupid."

"I appreciate that you wanted to spend time with us," Nick said, trying not to be as angry with his son as he was. If he was going to give Brandon the benefit of the doubt about being a responsible adult Noah deserved that too. Bad choices in his past and all. "But you could have called us and asked us to hold Dinner, we were going to eat a little later anyway so it would still be warm when Charlie got home."

"Fine," Noah said. "Next time I'll call before I come over."

"It's not about coming over uninvited," Sara interjected, knowing that Noah was intentionally missing the point. "It's about you going to class and getting an education. It's the most important thing you can do for yourself right now."

"Sara," Noah turned to look at her. "Why don't you just stay the hell out of this conversation? We all know how you feel about school—about anything you want us kids to do. If you say it it's the best thing for us and we don't have any choice in the matter!"

Sara gaped at his comment. She wanted what was best for all six children, and it hurt when one of them reacted like Noah just had. It was rare that any of the kids had the guts to mouth off to either parent, but this was one of those instances. A college education opened so many doors, and she wished Noah would be more committed to his schoolwork.

"Noah!" Nick raised his voice at his son. Even if he was technically a grown man, Nick still wouldn't put up with such harsh language, especially when it was directed at Sara. "That is NOT how you talk to Sara."

"It's not her business!" He challenged Nick, standing up a little taller, not backing down at all. Noah was just slightly shorter than his father, and figured he was done growing, unfortunately.

"How is it not her business?" Nick asked. "She's helped raise you for how many years? And your college tuition is paid by both of us."

Noah shook his head and torqued his jaw in frustration before continuing. "Yeah, well Mom doesn't push me to do things I don't wanna do. I just wish you would quit pushing the whole college thing. It's not my thing."

Noah had always done alright in school. Never a star student, but never a failure in any subject either. Once he'd gotten past his rough stage of middle school, he was known in the family for bringing home straight A's without much effort. Noah knew school was important to his parents, especially Sara, which was why he made at least the effort for A's, though he didn't "apply himself" like everyone wished he would. But he just wasn't the college type, it seemed. The only reason he'd gone to college in the first place was because he felt pressured by his parents to do so.

"Noah, a college degree gives you so many options," Sara reminded him. "It'll give you so many opportunities."

"Thanks for explaining that for the hundredth time," Noah quipped in annoyance. "I don't freakin' care. I want to drop out."

Noah didn't know if he meant that or not. He did know that school wasn't for him but he wasn't sure what was yet. He understood that it was a good idea to stay in classes until he found another plan but he didn't feel that he had to take it quite as seriously as his family was. He just wanted them to get that. That maybe he could take his time with school until he figured stuff out... maybe saying he wanted to drop out would get his point across.

"You don't mean that," Sara said, feeling almost more hurt than she had at Noah's words. "School's so important."

"It's not that important," Noah said with a heavy sigh. He wasn't backing down but he was getting tired of fighting. "I mean... it's not like I have to finish in four years like everyone else in the world. Can't I just take a few classes here and there?"

"Noah," Nick said, through his teeth. He was trying to calm himself down but the truth was that he was still really livid with Noah for his comments towards Sara. "Just... just... get lost."

"What?" Noah asked. Never, in all of his life had his father ever asked him to leave in anger before.

"I just think you should make yourself scarce until supper," Nick said, knowing he was too angry to speak fairly with his son. "Just go!"

Noah didn't wait for another comment but just turned and left the room. He'd considered heading up the stairs to hang out with Jordan for a while but lost interest just as quickly. Instead he decided to go back out to his apartment and be alone. For the first time in his life he felt like being in his own apartment on the family property was not a blessing at all... he wanted to be as far away from home as possible.

He cursed silently at having his license revoked for the ninety-day period that it had been because he'd been issued a DUI for being under the influence of marijuana while driving. If he hadn't lost his license Charlie wouldn't have his car at the moment and he would be able to up and leave home whenever he wanted.

Not knowing what else to do, he pulled out his cell phone and called his mother's home. It would be nice to hear a friendly voice after such a huge blow out with his father and step mother. He got the answering machine, "Hey mom, Jared, Meadow, I was just calling to say 'hi' I guess I'll call again later."

He pushed the "off" button hard and slammed the phone down on his bedside table. Noah let himself collapse onto his bed and release a huge sigh. His heart was racing slightly from the argument. It was rare that he ever got into such a disagreement with his parents, and usually happened when he let something build up. He'd never really told them how he felt deep down about college; how he hated the workload, and especially hated how now he had to live at home instead of the dorms. Admittedly he felt a little bad at snapping at his parents but at the same time it felt good to get everything off his chest.

Noah heard his stomach rumble in the stark silence of his small apartment. There was no way he was eating dinner with the family now. Not only was he probably not welcome, but he didn't want to have to sit there with all the tension in the room. He'd disrespected Sara, and he knew it really pissed off his dad. It was best to just stay clear of his dad when he was pissed. Not that he was afraid of him, but Noah knew he'd already done enough damage.

Back in the Stokes home, Nick was back stirring the enchilada sauce a bit roughly as Sara got out the tortillas. Some of it splashed out the pot and onto his shirt and arm. "Shit!" He exclaimed, letting the wooden spoon come to an abrupt halt in the pot.

Sara tossed the tortilla shells onto the counter and walked over to Nick. She put a supportive hand on his shoulder and began rubbing it gently. "Baby, don't worry about it too much. He's just upset."

Nick leaned against the edge of the stove with his hands, letting out a huge sigh. "You know, I think I understand him, and then he goes and says something like that," Nick said with a heavy heart. He'd always had a little more trouble understanding his second son. Brandon was definitely more like him, and related to him much better. Noah had always been a little more difficult to understand.

"Like what?" Sara gently probed, now running her hand up and down his bicep soothingly.

"What he said to you," Nick said, finally turning to look at her. "And about not caring about college. He knows how important getting a college education is. I feel like he's just trying to tick us off. And it's working."

Sara nodded in understanding. "I think that's most of it," Sara agreed. "He had the freedom of living in the dorms for a while, and now that's been taken away - I think it's causing him to rebel against what we want."

"The last thing I want is to make him do something that he really doesn't want to do," Nick said, his eyes full of worry.

"Well then I think we're going to have to have this conversation with him again," Sara mused aloud. "If he really doesn't want to go to college I think that he has the right to have his parents sit down and hear him out about it. I think deep down under all that crap about wanting to drop out he may have a pretty good idea about what he wants."

"And you don't think he wants to drop out?" Nick asked, sprinkling some cheese over the enchiladas and putting them in the oven so it all melted together.

"Well," Sara said, thinking aloud. "I don't remember the last time Noah ever gave up on something before he'd finished with it. I mean the kid played baseball until the day he graduated high school. He's a committed guy and I think he'll finish this semester."

"He can't be missing class then," Nick said, still feeling a little heated about the idea that Noah had skipped class in the first place. "So, what do we say when we talk to him?"

"I'm sorry Nicky," Sara said gently. "He'll feel ambushed if both of us try... this is a talk you're going to have to have with him alone."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Nick answered. "I really don't want to have another fight with him."

"You shouldn't be afraid to talk to your son," Sara said, a little forcefully. "As for what you should and shouldn't talk to him about... I can help you figure that one out if you want."

"I do," Nick said. "So, what's our stance on school? Do we support him wanting to leave? Or, are we going to push him to graduate?"

"I think we need to let him figure out his stance first," Sara said, "Before we figure out ours. For right now, let's just try to be open?"

"You're a little too nice," Nick said, wringing out a hand towel. "I kinda want to go to every class with him and watch him while he does his homework. This is school for crying out loud! It's his education!"

"Right," Sara said. "And you know how passionately I feel about it but Noah's a passionate guy too. Still, I agree he needs high marks this semester. No matter what he decides later on."

"So," Nick said still thinking. "We ride his ass until the end of the semester?"

"I think so," Sara said with a nod. "And then we let him decide if he wants a full course load in the fall."

Nick let out a tired sigh as he turned and got a pack of rice out of the cupboard to cook along with the enchiladas. Sara came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle, then placed a kiss between his shoulder blades. "It's gonna be fine. We'll work it out."

Their conversation was interrupted by a slamming door upstairs and loud screeching by two members of the family – from the sounds of it, Marley and Colin.

"Get back here, you little slimeball!" Marley yelled as she ran after her little brother, following him down the stairs, going entirely too fast. Colin just cackled and continued on, with one of Marley's training bras wrapped around his head.

Nick and Sara saw their youngest child dart past the kitchen area to make circles around the dining room table, and Marley following him closely behind. Colin was known as the prankster of the family, and his favorite targets were his sisters because he got the best reactions from them.

"Give it back NOW or I'm gonna get all your stupid tighty whitie underwear and throw it out the window!" Marley threatened her little brother, standing at the head of the dining room table. Colin grinned back mischievously from the other end, out of his sister's reach.

"Colin Matthew," Nick's voice warned from the kitchen, giving his son a stern look over the bar that separated the dining room and kitchen. Colin grinned at his dad innocently. "Quit tormenting your sister."

"Moooom!" Marley complained with embarrassment in her voice, mortified that male members of her family had seen her training bra. It had taken a huge pep talk for Sara to convince the girls to take that first magical trip to the department store to get training bras. Neither girl wanted it widely known they'd been shopping, especially by their brothers and dad.

"Nick, turn around and look busy," Sara whispered to her husband. Nick got the hint and turned around, then busied himself with opening the packet of rice and finding a saucepan to put it in. Sara walked around the bar and clapped her hands together once.

"Colin, give it to me now," she told her son firmly. Colin laughed again mischievously and hopped over to where his mother stood, holding out her hand. His sister stood by, her arms crossed and a truly horrible scowl on her face. After a little twirl in place, Colin reluctantly took the garment off his head and deposited it in his mother's hand. "Thank you. It's not appropriate for you to be waving around your sister's clothing, and especially something so private. I think you owe Marley an apology."

Th—th--th--that's not fair," Colin said. "Marley's mean to me all the time!"

"That's just Marley's way," Sara said with a slight chuckle. She'd read about boys messing with their sister's things but she'd never seen anything like it until now. "But you have to be the bigger person sometimes."

"I heard that!" Marley accused. "Mom you can't take his side. My bra is private! Nobody should get to see it but me!"

"Well I agree with you honey," Sara said shuddering at the thought of Marley getting to an age where she was the one that didn't agree. "That's why I made him give it back. But you have to admit that sometimes you're a little mean to him. You both need to be nicer to each other. You're only ever going to have one baby brother."

"Sometimes I think I have enough brothers," Marley said out of anger. "Couldn't you have had another girl?" She asked.

"I didn't exactly get a choice," Sara said with a laugh. The truth was though that she always understood boys better than girls. It was why she was closer to Nick, Greg, and Warrick the past decade and more that she'd been working at CSI.

"Well I know that," Marley said. "But you could try to stick up for me. You know I'm getting a little tired of being defined as the 'hell twin.'"

"I'm sorry baby," Sara said, not realizing that Marley had any idea about her nickname. The family had been referring to her as that since near her first birthday. It made Sara feel a bit guilty. "You're right, that's not fair.

"Yeah well it's not exactly like you can fix it," Marley said, sounding angry that her mother and father had given her four brothers and only one sister.

"No I can't" Sara admitted. Adding silently that she wasn't sure that she'd even want to. "But you're really lucky to have four brothers. They're always going to be there for you."

"So is Jordan,:" Marley said hotly. "It's about being family. Not necessarily about being a brother."

"Colin, come on over here a minute," Nick called from the kitchen, where he was getting out measuring cups to add the water needed for the rice. Colin gladly escaped the argument he had caused between his mother and sister, and scurried over to the kitchen with his father.

Sara tilted her head slightly to the side and gently fixed a tangle in Marley's hair. She smoothed the kink out delicately and sighed at her daughter's passion. Playing with the girls' hair was always a guaranteed way to calm them down.

"I know you're upset," she said softly as she continued to smooth Marley's dark brown hair. "Little brothers were made to embarrass their big sisters. You've just gotta let it go and move on."

Marley stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her mother appreciatively. Though she was getting older, and didn't always like to act like she still needed hugs from her parents, she still secretly loved being held by her mom and dad. "I just get sick of it sometimes, Mom."

"I know," Sara said, pressing a kiss to the top of her daughter's head. "Soon he'll be busy chasing girls at school and you won't have to worry about him stealing your bras."

That made Marley chuckle, thinking about how someday Colin might be interested in girls. Her little brother was such a prankster, and so annoying sometimes, that she couldn't imagine any girl being interested in him. Ever. "No one will want to date him."

Sara laughed at her comment, still stroking Marley's hair. "Someone will someday," she pulled her daughter's head back to look her in the face. Sara saw that her face had now softened, and her anger had dissipated. She winked at Marley and then pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You alright now?"

"Yeah," Marley replied. "Thanks, Mom."

"Sure, baby," Sara said, then cleared her throat a little. "Dinner will be ready soon, so can you tell Brandon and Jordan to wash up?"

Marley nodded as she pulled away and Sara handed her bundled up training bra over so she could take it upstairs. "Should I tell Noah too?"

Sara felt her heart sink at the mention of Noah. Presumably, he didn't want to be around her or Nick for the time being, even if it did involve free food. The last thing they needed was another argument to erupt at the dinner table. Nick needed to talk to him first, and she doubted he'd had enough time to calm down yet. "I think he has other plans."

Marley furrowed her eyebrows. "Is that because you and dad were fighting with him?"

"It's complicated, sweetheart," Sara said, rubbing her brow with her fingers. "But don't worry about, it'll be fine. Daddy just needs to talk to Noah some more about a few things."

Marley nodded in understanding and then turned to run back up the stairs.

Noah's living room window was placed in such a way that he could look down at the house and see inside the kitchen and dining area and when he glanced past he noticed that everyone, Charlie excluding because he wasn't home, was settling in around the table to eat. He felt a pang of something, though he wasn't sure what it was. Jealousy? Guilt? Whatever it was, he felt sure that he was partly to blame. He admitted that if he probably didn't have to fight with his parents over the issue but his father had been a bit out of line yelling at him without asking for an explanation.

He sighed and moved to his kitchen area to grab a bowl and box of cereal. He wasn't a bad cook actually, but he never cared for cooking when it was just him. A meal of cold cereal and a banana would have to be sufficient. He grabbed his phone again, looking to see if his mother had returned his call, even though he knew she hadn't. He sighed, feeling like nobody wanted him. The Stokes family cat was hanging out in his apartment with him, but she usually did that. She was a rescue cat and shy to boot because of it, and thus usually preferred the quiet of Noah's apartment.

"Thanks for hanging out with me," he said to her, pulling her onto his lap and petting her gently. Even the family dog, who they'd only had about a month and was the result of Noah's feeling bad for him at a pet fair didn't usually choose to spend time with him. She just snuggled up to him and purred, nosing at his cereal bowl asking for some of his milk.

Noah thought about the fight he'd had and the things he's said, feeling awful about the way he'd spoken to Sara. He knew that Nick would be coming to demand he apologize and part of him hoped he'd get to see Sara before his father had the chance. It always took something away from an apology, however earnest it was, if it had been an order.

He was about to give up on any further companionship other than from Puddin (the black cat who'd been given her name by a seven year old version of Marley) when his cell phone rang. Surprisingly it was his mother calling. He flipped it open and pulled it to his ear, "Hey mom."

"Hey baby," She said with that overly cheery voice she used for her boys. "I heard you called, what's up?"

"Just wanted to say hi," Noah answered. "See how you and Jared and Meadow were."

"Oh we're fine," Kathleen answered happily. She got over excited for a moment and said, "Your little sister came home from pre-school yesterday and told me the whole alphabet! She's only three and a half."

"That's really great mom," Noah said through a slight laugh. "Tell her her big brother is proud of her."

"I will bud, she's right here if you want to talk to her," Kathleen said, not noticing his tone. Sara would have already asked him what was wrong and gotten it out of him.

"Sure, that sounds good," he said. "Put her on."

He heard the phone move around a bit before he heard a tiny squeaky voice, "Hi Noah!"

"Hey Meadow," he said, forcing himself to sound happier. "What's up?"

Every time he said the name Meadow, he cringed internally. Thank God his father had been around when he was born, and he hadn't been given some ridiculous name like his sister had received. He imagined his name would probably be something like Eisenhower or Burr or Denim. Now that his mother had her lifetime companion, the much younger Jared, who was as equally odd as she was, Meadow was set for a lifetime of, "Meadow? Your name is Meadow?"

"Hi Noah!" She greeted him exuberantly. Meadow was a lot like any other girl her age, in that she was very imaginative, chatty, and curious about many things. She had a million questions about everything, and was one of the most adorable almost four-year-olds you could ever hope to meet. However, she was also a lot like her parents – somewhat self-absorbed, and dare he say…annoying. "Guess what?"

"What, sweetie?" He asked, playing along. With two little sisters, he'd gotten a lot of practice with how to talk to very young girls.

"I'm almost four!" She said, like it was the most impressive thing anyone had ever heard. And to her, it was, and Noah understood.

"You are?" He asked her. "You're not almost ten?"

"Uh-uh," she replied, and he could picture her shaking her head, her blond, wavy hair tossing about. "And guess what else? Mom took me to the theatre today and we saw a bunch of dancers and it was kinda weird and I told Mom and she said it wasn't weird, it's art."

Meadow was a highly intelligent almost four-year-old with an impressive vocabulary. His mother tried to "foster" her creativity and inquisitive nature by taking her to all kinds of events. It sounded like Meadow had been subjected to some kind of interpretive dance. Noah felt that his mother was so enamored with finally having a little girl of her own, she went somewhat overboard. Sometimes he wanted to remind his mother to give her a childhood.

"Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun," Noah commented, though he thought the opposite. "Did you do anything else cool today?"

Meadow sighed. "I had to clean my room," she said, obviously bummed out.

"Oh really?" He said, smiling. "Well, isn't it nice to have a clean room?"

He didn't mention to her that his apartment was usually somewhat of a pigsty. He was in college, so what did anyone expect?

"Ehhh…" she said disapprovingly. "I guess. Mommy says I gotta go."

"Alright, sweetheart. I love you."

"Love you, bye."

Noah flopped down on his couch and grabbed his laptop. He checked his email and responded to a few of them. He didn't pay attention to the time and was surprised when he heard a knock at his door. He picked up a few things and pulled the door open. "Oh, hey Charlie!"

"Hey Noah," Charlie said, making his way into Noah's apartment. "How come you're not down at the house?"

"I got in a fight with Dad and Sara," Noah admitted. "It kinda got a little out of hand. Dad asked me to come home and sit out from dinner."

"Wow," Charlie said awed and shocked. "Well, you really must have screwed up. I mean if you made Nick that mad you must have gotten caught smoking pot again or something."

"Shut up," Noah said, aggressively. "I'm not that stupid. I just skipped class this evening. Marley and Jordan were having a huge fight about something and I wanted to hang out and make sure everything was okay."

"You know Nick and Mom are really crazy about school," Charlie said, flopping down on Noah's couch. "I mean I get that sometimes you just have to cut out from class, hell I do it all the time. But you can't let them know."

"Right," Noah said laughing. "Point taken little bro next time I won't tell dad I skipped class."

"That's the idea," Charlie said, laughing. "It sucks that they're that mad at you. Are you going to go down there and talk to them?"

"I guess," Noah mentioned slowly. "I kinda feel like I owe Sara an apology."

"Come down stairs with me and have dinner," Charlie said, giving him a brotherly smile. "Nick won't ambush you in front of me and I'm sure you want more than cold Lucky Charms for supper. I know they put a plate up for me, I'll give you half."

Noah wondered if they were talking about the same man. Since when would his dad not "ambush" him in front of his stepbrother? Nick would never outright humiliate any of his kids in front of the others, but everyone would know he was in the doghouse with his parents. At the end of his meal, his father would bring up the incident, if he didn't bring it up when he was actually eating, and at this time of night, all the kids would probably be hanging around the living room, avoiding bed time. He really didn't want to get into an argument and get verbally spanked once again with the entire family around. Noah really wanted to handle this on his terms, when he was ready, not wait until his father called him out on it and look like a frightened kindergartener.

"Thanks, but I'd rather not," Noah declined as he picked up the remote control to turn on ESPN. "I'll talk to him later so you can have a peaceful dinner."

Charlie looked over at his older stepbrother in concern. He seemed pretty beat up about this whole thing. Charlie didn't know the whole story of what had happened, but was guessing that it had flared up into something worse than it actually was. A lot of the times, that was the case between Nick and Noah. "It's really that bad?"

"Yes," Noah answered, flipping through the channels mindlessly. Charlie got along so well with their parents that sometimes Noah didn't think he could possibly understand the arguments they had over the years. Not that he resented Charlie – okay, maybe a little sometimes – but how could he truly understand when he seemed to have a perfect relationship with their parents? "Thanks for coming to check on me, but I'd still rather just be alone for a while longer."

Charlie took the hint, and nodded as he stood up from the couch. "No problem," he said wholeheartedly. "If you wanna talk, you know where I am."

"Yeah. Thanks," Noah replied, catching his brother's eyes for a moment before directing them back to the television.

Charlie sighed to himself as he closed Noah's apartment door and headed down the stairs, on the outside of the garage. He cut across the driveway and back into the house, where just as Noah had predicted, the twins were on their stomachs on the floor, in their pajamas, watching an old episode of Full House. Colin was there also, snuggled up next to his father, who read him a chapter out of a book every night. Right now it looked to be _Treasure Island, _an old personal favorite of Charlie's.

Everyone looked up as the door opened, and Charlie walked back in. "Charlie, the microwave just beeped about twenty seconds ago with your food," Sara said from where she sat on one end of the couch, checking through the kids' homework to make sure everything was done.

"Okay, thanks Mom," he said as he headed towards the kitchen.

The Full House theme music came on to signal the conclusion of the episode, and the TV announcer reported another episode was about to air. "Mom, can we watch one more episode? Pleeaase?" Marley asked, turning over on her side to plead with her mother.

"One more," Sara said, surprising all three children scattered around her. The younger kids usually had a very strict bed time at Nine Thirty. "But then you have to go up. Deal?"

"Thanks!" The three younger voices chorused. "You're the best!"

"Quiet down so everyone can enjoy the show," Sara warned her children, as she started running her fingers through Marley's hair. Finally she leaned forward to where her daughter was sitting with her back against the front of the couch and whispered in her ear, "You mind if I braid your hair so it's curly tomorrow?"

"Sure," Marley said excitedly. She loved it when she got to wear her hair curly. There was something about going to school looking significantly different than Jordan that she loved. "You want me to go wash it really quick so it's wet and it curls better?"

"I thought you wanted to watch Full House?" Sara said, gesturing gently towards the television. "It'll still curl dry."

"It's okay," Marley said quietly. "It curls better wet and I love wearing it like that. Can you make really small braids so it's really curly?"

"I think I could manage that," Sara said playfully, stroking a piece of Marley's hair and tucking it behind her ear. "Go on up and get washed. And grab that can of mousse out of my bathroom on your way back down."

"Okay," Marley said, smiling. She got up and ran up the stairs quickly, excited to be being given special treatment from her mother.

Jordan, who had nodded off already, unconsciously pulled the blanket up over her shoulders more and curled closer to the couch. Sara watched her and smiled. The twins were so grown up now she couldn't believe it. She remembered being so nervous before they were born she had so many irrational fears. She remembered being afraid that she couldn't handle two babies on top of three rowdy, slightly obnoxious, adorable sons between her and Nick. She remembered being afraid that she wouldn't be able to relate to daughters being that she only had a son and her step children were both also boys. Eleven years later and Sara wasn't nearly as worried.

"Brandon," Sara heard her husband whisper gently as he leaned around Colin, who was about to try taking a turn reading a page. "Would you mind taking your sister up?"

"Let her rest there a while Nick," Sara said gently, feeling a little guilty that Noah was the only member of their family that wasn't perched somewhere in the living room watching the television. "I kinda like spending time with her, even if she's not awake to enjoy it."

Nick looked over at his wife and smirked. She surprised him sometimes the way she was with the kids. Tonight, she seemed to be in a quite affectionate, loving mood, especially with the girls. A lot of the time, they had to be pretty firm and strict with the kids, especially Marley, so it was nice that Sara was getting a chance to bond with her. Over hair, nonetheless – something he never quite got. Must be a girl thing.

"Sure," he answered, settling back into the couch as Colin began to read aloud. Sara put the kids' school papers aside and let out a cleansing, relaxing sigh. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound of Colin reading to Nick just a few feet away. With his speech therapy, he was doing mountains better with his stuttering. Reading aloud, especially in class at school, could make Colin stutter even more because he got so nervous about his condition. Practicing in the safe haven of home every night was really helping him, and his teacher had noted improvement.

It was bothering Sara that Noah wasn't here with them. It was a lot rarer these days that all six children were around at the same time. Brandon was hanging around for a little bit, so it would be very nice to have Noah around too, but it seemed he didn't want to be around them right now. Sara felt guilty that Noah was upset by her involvement in the conversation about school. She'd been a part of his life for so many years now, and it hurt that Noah felt she was butting in. Sara tried not to take it so personally. Over the years, whenever either parent disciplined a child that wasn't biologically theirs, sometimes feelings of resentment would arise. Sara just hoped Noah could move past that and realize she wanted what was best for him.

About ten minutes later, Marley returned with wet hair, the can of mousse, a hairbrush, and a few hair ties. She smiled, obviously excited, as she approached where her mother was sitting.

"Somebody smells nice a fresh," she commented as Marley sat down on the floor in front of where her mother sat on the couch.

"You don't have to tell me," Brandon teased from his chair. Sara gave him an amused look as she took the hairbrush from Marley's hand.

She began gently and slowly brushing her daughter's brown hair, which grew a couple inches past her shoulders. "Feeling sleepy yet?"

"A little," she agreed as Sara began braiding. "Not as tired as Jordan though."

"Okay sweetheart, I'll try to make it quick so you can go up," Sara said, dropping a kiss on Marley's forehead as she gently brushed through her wet hair.

"Thanks Mommy," Marley said, using a name she rarely used for her mother anymore. Marley had taken to calling her "mom" ever since she'd started middle school.

Sara woke up an hour and a half later to an empty living room when she heard the sound of someone coming through the back door. She looked around and realized that Nick had probably taken the three kids up, and was probably in the shower. She must have fallen asleep just after she finished working on Marley's hair.

She grabbed the remote and turned of the television and cable box and made her way into the kitchen to see who'd come inside and remind them to lock up, she wasn't surprised to see Noah. Apparently he'd finally decided to come back down to the house. "I don't think there's any leftover supper but you're welcome to make yourself something."

"Thanks," he said, pausing for a second. "Sara can I talk to you?"

"Sure babe," she said, pouring herself a glass of ice cold water from the freezer door. "What's on your mind?"

"Well I wanted to apologize," he said. "For uh... for the way I spoke to you earlier. I was really angry but that doesn't make it okay."

"I know you didn't mean it," Sara said, offering him a half smile. "And I'm sorry that I got in the middle of an argument between you and your dad but you know how I feel about school."

"I know," he admitted. "And I guess I can't expect you to know how I feel about it too if I don't actually tell you."

"So tell me now," Sara said. "No strings attached. I promise not to get mad."

"I'd like to Sara," Noah said slowly as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "But I don't think my dad and I are done fighting about it yet... and I think I should probably talk to him about it first."

Sara nodded in understanding as Nick appeared at the bottom of the stairs, freshly showered. "That's fine," she whispered to Noah. Sara reached over and squeezed his shoulder in support. She knew her husband made a point of being approachable to all his children, but sometimes she figured it was downright intimidating for the kids to talk to him after an argument.

Nick walked into the kitchen to get a drink and found that Noah had come back. He was a bit surprised to see him, but he could see Noah was looking apologetic.

"Noah," he said with a bit of surprise to his voice. Nick let his eyes wander to his wife's face, and found a serious expression. One that begged him to keep his cool and hear his kid out. That would be easier said than done.

"I'm gonna go read in bed and I'll leave you two alone," Sara told the two men, feeling the tension building in the room. She gave Noah a wink and then began to walk towards the stairs. As she passed Nick, she put a calming hand on his forearm. They both knew they needed to stay firm with Noah about their feelings towards his schooling.

As Sara walked up the stairs, Nick opened the refrigerator door to get out some orange juice. Noah didn't say anything to his father just yet, just watched him with an observant look on his face. As Nick poured himself a glass of OJ, he decided it was best to get on with it.

"Did you wanna talk about school some more?" He asked his son in what he thought was a pretty calm voice.

Noah let out an annoyed huff. "Can we actually talk this time, or are you just gonna yell at me?"

Nick leaned back against the counter, opposite from his son. "You know how important education is to us. I'm not gonna tiptoe around the subject, Noah. If you're in school, and we're paying for it, you need to be going to class. I'm not backing down on that."

"But you're not even listening to what I want!" Noah raised his voice slightly.

"Keep your voice down, please. The kids are in bed," Nick reminded him.

"You never asked me if I wanted to go to college. You just assumed. I'm not like Brandon, okay? No matter how much you think I want the same things he does, I don't."

"If you didn't want to go to college, why didn't you just say something before Sara and I forked over thousands of dollars for your tuition?"

"Because you were so fucking dead set on me going!"

"Of course I was dead set on you going to college," Nick said, trying to calm himself down. If he managed to keep his temper in check it would be easier to calm Noah down. "But that's only because I want what's best for you. And watch your language when you're speaking to your father."

"Whatever," Noah said, scrubbing his hands over his head. He slammed them down on the counter in frustration and turned on his heels, ready to leave the room. There was no point in even bothering.

"Keep it down Noah," Nick said, pointing upstairs to where the entire family was sleeping. "And get back here. You and I still have a lot we need to talk about."

"Are we gonna talk or are you gonna start yelling at me again?" Noah asked hotly. "Because I don't have time for that."

"You raised your voice first," Nick pointed out, rather childishly. "Anyway, that's beside the point. You and I have to figure something out. We can't keep fighting about this."

"I don't wanna fight anymore," Noah admitted. For the first time in years Nick saw his son as the same happy and well adjusted child he'd once been.

"So, you tell me what you want," Nick said, feeling a lot calmer than he had all day. "And I'll tell you what I expect. Then we'll find a compromise, okay?"

"Fine," Noah agreed. "But you have to promise not to go crazy."

"Done," Nick said. "And you can't either."

"Deal," Noah said, quietly. He had never been the type of person to lose his temper overly easily. As a matter of a fact he was always the last one in his family, after his father, to over react. Somehow though Noah could not get along with his father.

"Okay, it's about time I heard it from you Noah," Nick said gently. He gave his son a concerned look and leaned back, prepared to listen. "What is it that you want?"

"I don't know exactly," Noah said with a heavy sigh. "And I do want to go to school... but maybe not full time. Can't I just take like two classes and do something else with my time?"

"You're enrolled for a full time course load," Nick reminded his son. "That means you've got a responsibility to do well in the classes you're taking."

"Fine," Noah said slowly. "I wasn't asking to drop any. I'm not a quitter, Dad."

"I know that," Nick said. "But I have no idea what you want. I wasn't sure."

"But maybe next semester I could take fewer classes?" Noah asked, hopefully. "I mean if I'm not living in the dorms anymore I don't have to have a full load. Or, maybe I could take a semester off." Noah saw the vein in his father's head start to throb. "Hear me out... I want a degree eventually, but maybe not now. You know how Sara's brother invited Brandon and then me out to the UK to live with him for a year when we graduated?"

"Yes," Nick said, remembering. Sara and Nick had both agreed that if the kids wanted to they could go to London to stay with her brother after college. "We talked about that."

"Not really," Noah reminded his father. "You and Sara talked about it. And, I'd actually really like to go. We never see Uncle Peter or his kids. And it's another country... think of everything I could learn? It's a great experience. In a year I could see so much of the world with them. Paris, Greece, Scotland."

"I didn't realize you'd wanted to go so badly," Nick admitted. "Brandon didn't really want to be so far from home when we ran the idea by him."

"Yeah," Noah said. "But I'm not Brandon."

"What about this summer?" Nick asked, blindsiding his son. "I know it's not a whole year, but you don't have to take summer classes and you'll get eight weeks. I think I'd miss you too much if you were gone longer than that. And when you get back you'll start taking classes again."

"But maybe only a few?" Noah asked hopefully. "I could get a job and start saving money for things like going back to Uncle Peter's if I want. Or a new car. Or, just so I can have some money put away for anything."

"If you need money son, we'll help you." Nick reminded him. "You know that."

"Yeah but I want to earn it myself," Noah said. "Besides I think I'd be happier working full time than going to school full time. And, I promise not to give up... but maybe I could take six years to graduate instead of four?"

"I think that would be alright," Nick said, feeling a bit foolish for not talking to his son sooner. He didn't want to defy his parents, he just wanted to do things differently. "But we've got to set some ground rules for this semester if you're going to go to Europe this summer."

"Name them."

"For starters," Nick said. "I don't want you missing any more class. I'm serious. Unless it's a case of life altering emergency you need to be there."

"Can't you just trust me to get good grades?" Noah asked. His father glared at him. "Okay, okay, fine. I'll go to class."

"I don't wanna treat you like a child, Noah, but I need to see that you're doing the work," Nick told his son. "When midterm reports and your final report card comes out, I expect to see all A's."

A 'C' had never been an acceptable final grade in the Stokes home. They understood that on some assignments or tests, their children might slip and get below a 'B', but overall they expected their kids to pull all A's and B's. Over the years, Noah had had some trouble with this, but from high school on, he had managed to pull mostly straight A's.

Noah sighed, knowing he could argue with his dad that he was a legal adult and didn't have to even show him his grades, but he now had the possibility of going to Europe for the summer. The last thing he needed to do was go against his father's wishes. Noah knew very well that if he crossed his dad, his Europe trip would be gone in a flash. His parents didn't mess around with school or something as big as a summer in the UK.

"Fine," Noah said, biting his tongue, because he knew he didn't have a choice. He wanted this trip so badly, and going to class wasn't exactly entirely horrible. There were other ways he'd rather spend his time, but he figured if he'd put up with it for twelve years, one more full-time semester wouldn't kill him. "I'll show you my progress report, and it'll be all A's."

"Good," Nick nodded, studying his son. He really, truly hoped his son would keep his word because a summer with his uncle would be special, and he'd definitely learn a lot. "This trip to see Uncle Peter is contingent on you keeping up your end of the deal. Understood?"

Noah nodded wordlessly.

"And first thing tomorrow you need to apologize to Sara."

"I already did," Noah told him. "Before you came downstairs."

"Well, good. Thanks for being a man about it."

"Sure," Noah said, feeling a whole lot better now. He wasn't sure why he was always so hesitant to talk to his father, because Nick was always pretty good about listening. Sure, he could get angry when what he'd done hit a nerve, but once he'd calmed down, his father was usually understanding. "I'm gonna head back to my apartment."

"Alright," Nick stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Noah's shoulders. "I'm glad we talked, and I love you."

Noah put one arm around his father and gave him a quick pat on the back. "Love you too. Night."

Nick followed his son to the door and locked it behind him, then began turning off the last few lights. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, having worked things out with Noah. Of all the kids, he seemed to have the most disagreements with his second-oldest. He of course loved him the same, but raising Noah had been stressful at times.

After he climbed the stairs, Nick quickly peeked in to Colin's room and the twins' room to make sure they were fast asleep. He'd always had a thing for watching his kids sleep, especially when they were little. As they got older, he still couldn't resist. With everything he and Sara had seen at work, it was so easy to worry about them. He especially worried about Jordan and Marley, almost teenagers, and all the pressure and potential danger they faced. Whenever he got freaked out, Sara tried to reassure him that they talked to the kids all the time about their safety. The Stokes kids had gotten all the safety lectures one could imagine – crossing the street, strangers, the Internet, dating, sex. They were smart kids, and Nick didn't believe they'd ever willingly put themselves in danger. But, being the CSI that he was, he still worried.

Charlie had given Marley, Jordan, and Colin a ride home from school that day. Their schools were both on his way home from the high school and he'd been given the night off from work, so he'd offered in order to save one of his parents from having to leave work early to get them. Jordan and Marley were chattering happily in the back seat about all of the girl topics under the sun. Boys, getting their nails done, hair, the new spring line from Coach—something he was surprised even they knew much about. Colin was in the front seat with his nose buried in a book. Charlie remembered at least a thousand car rides where he'd done the same thing.

"Whatcha readin this week?" Charlie asked his little brother. Both out of sheer interest and because he wanted to make conversation.

"Harry Potter," Colin answered, with a grin. "I hope you don't mind I borrowed this one off your sh-sh-sh-book case last night."

"That's fine," Charlie said, knowing that Colin would be really careful with his book. He was pretty respectful of property. "Which one are you on?"

"Oh just the first one," Colin said, "I just got to the part where Harry goes with uh—Cedric, I think, to go learn about Quidditch."

"I can't remember who it was," Charlie said, "It's been a few years since I read those. I've got all seven though, if you're interested in finishing the series."

"You know Harry dies in the end," Marley said from the back seat. "He has to fight Voldemort and he loses!"

"He who must not be named!" Jordan corrected her twin. "You can't say Voldemort. It's too scary!"

"That's a lie Colin," Charlie said, correcting both of his sisters. He reached behind the seat and swatted both of them, pretty hard, on the knees. "Quit being little liars!"

"We're not lying," Jordan said, playing into her sister's game. "And you know I've read them all!"

"I've seen the movies you know," Colin argued back. "I'm not a complete idiot."

"Jordan," Charlie said from the front seat. "Stop being such a little jerk. You know you always cry if someone ruins the end of a book or movie for you!"

"Well maybe he should have read them when the rest of us did," Marley argued in her sister's defense. "If he wasn't such a little nerd-bomber maybe he'd have time to read a good book when the rest of us are."

Charlie didn't point out to his sisters that Colin was still only nine years old and in the third grade. He wasn't as old or advanced in reading as they were and sometimes it was only natural that it took him a couple extra years to jump on the band wagon with actual novels. It's not like he could have read them when he was in kindergarten which is what grade he was in when Jordan was reading them or in first grade when Marley was.

Luckily Colin had a level head, even at the age of nine. He wasn't easily provoked by his sisters; a result of growing up the youngest of six. Colin knew they were just trying to get a rise out of him, and they weren't telling him the truth. His eyes remained focused on the book as Charlie pulled into the driveway.

"You know, one of the Weasleys dies," Jordan continued as Charlie put the vehicle in park. "It's a total tragedy."

Charlie sighed loudly. He was getting a small taste of what his parents dealt with daily – sibling rivalry. It was a whole lot more annoying when he was supposed to be in charge. Not that they babysat the little kids, but it was known by all that whoever was the oldest kid home was "in charge" in case anything needed to be done.

"Girls, get lost," Charlie told them shortly, tired of their bombardment of Colin. They all began to pile out of the car, gathering their backpacks. Colin mindlessly pulled his bag over his shoulder and continued reading as he walked slowly towards the door.

"You don't really mean that," Marley pointed out sassily. It was always amusing when one of her older brothers was left to rule the household, because they were fun to mess with. "I don't think Mom and Dad would appreciate you saying that."

Jordan giggled in amusement as Charlie gave Marley a warning look. "I don't think Mom and Dad would appreciate you taunting Colin. And if you don't stop, I'm gonna make you call them."

"They're in court," Jordan pointed out. They weren't allowed to bother their parents when they were in court unless it was an absolute family emergency, which had never happened. "If you make us bother them, they're gonna be REEEAAALLY mad at you. And I'll tell them you hit us."

Charlie sighed again, wanting to disappear into his room. "Shut up, Jordan. Leave Colin alone and we won't have a problem."

The twins both rolled their eyes as they walked inside the house and dropped their backpacks in the front hallway. A snack was always first on the to-do list when they arrived home, so they headed straight for the kitchen. Both girls found a pack of Cheez-It crackers and collapsed onto the couch to watch some TV. Colin retreated to his bedroom, too enamored with his book to care about much else.

"I'm gonna go to my friend Lucy's house to work on a project with her and Aiden," Charlie announced as he found his own snack. "Can I trust you two to leave Colin alone?"

"But of course, dear brother," Marley answered with a grin as she popped a cracker into her mouth.

"Noah's in his apartment for a while before he has class. I'm gonna tell Colin to call me if you two give him any more problems," he told his little sisters. Today, they were in one of their little moods when tormenting poor Colin seemed like so much fun.

"Can I go over to my friend Jenny's?" Jordan asked.

"Fine," Charlie said. "But leave your cell phone with Marley since Mom and Nick have hers. I don't want her watching Colin without a way to reach someone in case of an emergency."

"So I don't get my OWN phone in case I have an emergency?" Jordan asked sarcastically. "Marley gets to have my phone even though she's grounded from her own? Real fair Charlie!"

"Look Marley and Colin are two people," Charlie argued with his younger sister. "The Harrises each have a cell phone and they have a house phone. You'll be fine without it."

"Whatever," Jordan said, thinking her brother was being a big idiot but handing her phone over to Marley anyway. Now that she had a cell phone she'd be on the phone with Aaron all night, poor Colin would be left to his own devices. Good thing she didn't care! "When mom gets out of court I'm gonna call and see if I can stay the night."

"Do whatever you want," Charlie said. "I'm leaving. Noah's gonna be in his apartment till he goes to class so if you guys need someone he's up there. And don't be a little jerk to Colin, he's a good kid."

Jordan heard her sister ask, "are we talking about the same Colin?" as she slipped out the front door and turned right, towards Jenny's house.

Marley, the youngest of the twins and second youngest Stokes child by exactly thirty minutes, chuckled as she turned on the television and started watching a re-run of Jon & Kate Plus 8. There was something eerily empowering about being in charge of Colin, in a way it was more fun than being completely on her own in the house. Even if Colin didn't even know that Jordan wasn't home nor that Noah was only thirty seconds away. She watched as Mady and Cara made their way through the American Girl store in New York City and wondered if they had the same relationship that she had with Jordan. It sure didn't seem like it but she imagined people on the outside wouldn't realize how close they were, either.

As a matter of a fact Marley couldn't help but wonder what had Jordan's panties in a bunch. She had barely spoken to her all day at school. They were at different "academic levels" so, they had different classes except study hall—in which they usually spent chattering away about one thing or another. Today, however, Jordan had hopped onto a computer and avoided her for the majority of the class. If it weren't for Aaron, who also shared that class with them, she'd have been totally alone. She would've had to study. Lame.

"See ya later," Charlie told his little sister before heading out the front door.

Marley watched the end of the episode, and then another came on. She loved the show, but was getting a little bored sitting there all by herself. Since she had her sister's cell phone, she flipped it open and immediately dialed Aaron's number. He didn't answer, and she remembered he had soccer practice until five. Her two best friends also had practices after school, so she couldn't call them. Tossing the cell phone on the seat next to her, she let out a bored sigh. She was still grounded from the computer, but no one was around to see her break it.

Marley tucked the phone into her jeans pocket and climbed the stairs two at a time until she reached the top. Colin's door was closed, and she decided not to bother him for now, though it would be fun to toy with him some more. She opened her own bedroom door and shut it behind her. It was nice to have the room to herself, and she immediately logged onto the computer. The house was totally silent, and it was nice. Sometimes Marley wondered what it would be like to be an only child, or only have one or two siblings. It would probably be really boring, and she'd get into trouble even more, she figured.

She logged onto her instant messenger and saw that Noah was online. She knew he wouldn't rat on her, so she opened up a chat window with him.

GnarlyMarley: how's the doghouse?

Noah412: haha funny

Noah412: shouldn't u be…NOT on the computer?

GnarlyMarley: mebbe.

GnarlyMarley: do I tell u enuf ur my fave brother?

Noah412: sure.

Noah412: how was school

GnarlyMarley: boring

Noah412: u don't say…

Noah412: how could school ever be boring?

GnarlyMarley: good one!

GnarlyMarley: dont be mad

GnarlyMarley: but I kinda easedropped on ur convo w/ dad

Noah412: u mean EAVESDROPPED

Noah412: u little sneak

Noah412: I shouldve known

GnarlyMarley: r u mad?

Noah412: a little, but don't worry too much

GnarlyMarley: srry, hard to resist

GnarlyMarley: I cant beleive u get to go to UK

Noah412: yea as long as I don't piss dad off

GnarlyMarley: that could be hard…

Noah412: lol yea

Noah412: do me a favor and dont do anything to put him in a bad mood

GnarlyMarley: i'll try my best

GnarlyMarley: pinky swear

Noah412: dont try that full house crap on me

Noah412: i need to get ready for class

Noah412: tty soon

Noah412: stay out of trouble

GnarlyMarley: i'll try!

GnarlyMarley: byes!

Marley knew that Noah didn't have class for another half an hour, but that he'd probably want to take a shower before he left. For the life of her she couldn't figure out how boys could take a real and effective shower in so little time. It took her forty-five minutes to get ready in the morning when she was rushing—and she wasn't even allowed to wear make-up yet.

She messaged a couple of other friends who didn't respond and got bored with being on messenger. She didn't want to talk to anyone, anyway! She decided to check her email and realized that it was still logged in to Jordan's. She took a quick glance over her twin's inbox and realized there wasn't anything of interest except a confirmation email that she'd changed her password. Marley made a mental note to remember it now: "jordanelizabeth222" sometimes it amazed her how dumb her sister could be.

She clicked her way into her own inbox and laughed a little at Jordan. While Jordan's was completely devoid of new messages she herself had four alerts from Facebook telling her that other people had made the attempt to contact her that day. She also had one e-mail message from her teacher which she didn't really care to read. Having to listen to her at school wasn't enough, and she had to send the class mass e-mails?

All of the messages from Facebook were alerting her that she'd been poked. It almost annoyed her that she received emails about every little thing from Facebook—almost. She, unlike Jordan who put everything on her junk email list as soon as she received it, realized that having a flooded inbox meant that she was popular. Popularity meant she was loved!

After she was finished poking everyone back and in Aaron's case leaving him an affectionate note on his wall, she grew bored again. She still had Jordan's cell phone in her pocket and decided to call Jenny's to see what they were up to. Maybe she could drag Colin over and the three of them could hang out (she Jenny and Jordan. Colin could go sit in a corner someplace and read. What did he care where he was when he did that!?). She flipped through the phone for Jenny's number, one she didn't have memorized because she really didn't spend as much time with the fifth grader as Jordan did. They had all been really close friends as littler children but when Marley got to the upper grades in Elementary school she'd lost interest in hanging out with younger children.

There were a few rings and finally Jenny answered her cell, "Hey Jordan, you gonna come over?"

"Uh," Marley said, feeling really confused. Wasn't Jordan already there? "This is Marley, is my sister there?"

"No," Jenny said, sounding just as confused as Marley was. "I haven't seen her since Tuesday when we took Bojangles for a walk."

"Oh," Marley said, feeling a little spooked. Jordan left for Jenny's house, which was only a block away, almost an hour ago. "Could you have her call me if she comes over?"

"Yeah," Jenny said, still sounding awfully confused. "No problem."

Marley turned the phone off and held it in her hand in thought. There was no way Jordan shouldn't be at Jenny's house yet. Her mind started to race with wild possibilities. Her sister could've been kidnapped, or beamed up by space aliens, or got swallowed up by a manhole! Jordan was such a goody two shoes, so she wouldn't have gone somewhere she shouldn't be going.

Marley thought about the message she'd come across from the mysterious Justin yesterday. Her twin sister had promised her, PROMISED HER, that she wouldn't try to meet him. In their tightly-bonded world, that held a lot of weight. Jordan wouldn't break her promise, would she?

She cursed herself for getting grounded from her own cell phone, and having Jordan's instead. Now she couldn't try to call her sister to check on her. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't do nothing! Her sister could very well be in danger, and Marley couldn't stand the thought of her own twin getting hurt and doing nothing about it. Marley would never be able to live with herself if something happened to Jordan.

But who could she call? Her parents were in court, and she didn't want them to worry if this was all nothing. And boy, would they worry. If any of the kids made them worry unjustly, everyone knew they'd be in for huge talking-to when they got home. Maybe Jordan had gone to another friend's house instead? With a slightly shaky voice, Marley called two more of Jordan's close friends, and neither had heard from her. Marley was really starting to worry.

Finally, she knew she needed to ask for help. Hopefully, Noah would still be in his apartment. He was supposed to leave for class pretty soon. Marley poked her head in Colin's room and told him to stay put, and that she needed to ask Noah something. She raced across the yard and up the steps to her big brother's apartment. After pounding on the door and yelling his name, Noah opened the door, his hair still wet from his shower.

"What IS it Marley?" He asked, slightly annoyed, but his expression softened when he saw how worried Marley was. "What's wrong?"

She struggled to catch her breath from her dash through the house and across the yard. Paired with all her emotions, she felt like she was going to burst. "Jordan, she, she, I think she went somewhere she's not…she was supposed to go to Jenny's and I know I'm not supposed to be on the phone, but I called Jenny and she's not over there, and she's not at Katie's or Mandy's and I don't know what to do."

Noah tried to wrap his mind around what his little sister was ranting about. Whatever it was, it sounded like Jordan was in some sort of trouble. "Calm down, Mar," he put his hand on her shoulder and brought her inside. "Just slow down a minute. She was supposed to go to Jenny's, and she's not there?"

Marley nodded her head vigorously, on the verge of tears. She should've told her parents yesterday that Jordan was talking to that boy. But she wanted to trust her sister, so she hadn't, and now she might really be hurt. It made Marley sick to her stomach. "And she doesn't have her phone. Charlie made her give hers to me!"

Noah sighed and tried to think clearly. "Do you know where she might be?"

Marley couldn't stop a sob escaping her throat. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone," she stressed. A promise between her and Jordan meant a lot, but Jordan had broken her end, if it turned out she had gone to meet Justin. Something in her gut told Marley that's where she was.

"Marley," Noah said gently. "Look you're obviously really upset about this so I can already tell it's pretty damn serious. Where's Jordan?"

"Okay," Marley said, sucking in her breath and preparing to be honest. If she was wrong about where Jordan was she would be giving away her twin's biggest secret in the world for no reason. "There's this boy she's been talking to—online. I think she might have gone to meet him."

"Fuck Marley," Noah exclaimed really loudly. "How long ago did she leave? And why didn't you tell someone? This jackass could kill her!"

"I know!" Marley replied, choking on a sob. "Noah, what are we gonna do?!What if she's in real trouble? What if Justin's like fifty and we never see her again? We've got to go get her."

"Well I promise you Marley, I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen," Noah said slowly. "Do you know where they are?"

"She said something about ice cream," Marley said, trying to remember all the information she'd gotten out of her twin. They'd been talking back and forth for a while. Suddenly, Marley had the idea that she might be able to find some info in her twin's emails. Good thing she'd made it a point to remember her password. "I'm gonna run upstairs and read her emails from him really quick, see if I can find out."

"Okay," Noah agreed. "Charlie has my car so I'm gonna get Sara's and pull it around front. Meet me there in five?"

Exactly five minutes later Nick rolled slowly into the driveway as he saw Noah pulling out. At first the sight of Noah behind the wheel of Sara's car didn't bother him, they'd agreed he could use it to get to class that day if Charlie hadn't returned his car yet. No—what bothered Nick when he realized what he was seeing was that Marley was in the car with him and that meant there was no way he was going to class. Instead he was off to do something irresponsible and he'd taken his sister along for the ride.

When he got inside and realized that Colin was in the house alone and Jordan was nowhere to be seen his anger at Noah sparked again. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since they'd had a discussion about responsibility.

What's worse, they hadn't even left a note to say where they were going. How many times had they told their kids to do that? Nick angrily swiped up some snack wrappers the kids had left out and tossed them in the trash can, trying his best to stay calm. But why should he stay calm when Noah had broken a promise he'd only made yesterday? That boy could kiss his trip to Europe goodbye.

"Dad, I'm okay. Really," Colin tried to smooth things over a little bit. Marley and Noah had left in a hurry, without even say anything to him, but he was nine years old, after all. It wasn't like he was a baby.

"I'm glad you are, Colin, but they shouldn't have left you alone. They know better," Nick told his young son, who had joined him in the kitchen. He still had his suit and tie on from court. He'd been so happy that court had gotten out a little sooner than they'd anticipated - a rarity - so he could come home and spend some time with his kids. Nick took off his jacket and loosened up his tie. It felt like he was being strangled.

"Is Mom coming home early too?" Colin asked.

"No, man, not for a little while. She has more work to do." Nick set his jacket on the counter and picked up his cell phone. "I need to call Noah and find out what's up. Why don't you go upstairs and play, or go in the backyard."

Colin nodded in understanding and headed back up to his bedroom. He could tell his father was angry and Nick really hated having to yell at his kids in front of others. Not that he yelled so much, but Nick didn't want Colin having to listen to it. Nick speed dialed Noah on his phone and heard it ring. It continued to ring five times before his voice mail came on.

"Dammit!" Nick said, shaking his head, feeling even more angered. Why wasn't he answering his phone? He clicked the off button without leaving a message, because now he was too angry. Nick thought about calling Marley, who was in the car with him, but of course the little runt was grounded from it yet again. After taking a few deep breaths, he dialed Jordan's phone, hoping she had some idea of where her siblings were going.

Back in the car, Marley heard the cell phone ring and looked at the caller ID and saw that it was her father. She bit her lip, half elated that he was available, and half nervous because she wasn't sure what he would think.

"Daddy?" She answered a little nervously.

"Marley?" Nick answered in confusion. He was without patience right now. "Why are you on Jordan's phone? You're grounded from the phone. Do you need a reminder what that means?"

"I know, dad, and I'm sorry," Marley told him in her nicest, please-forgive-me voice.

"Where are you anyway?" He walked towards the laundry room as he spoke to get a fresh shirt and a pair of jeans from the pile of clean clothes. "And why didn't Noah answer his phone?"

"Oh, he forgot it," Marley explained. "We're uh...well, we're in the car to go pick up Jordan," she said evasively.

"Oh, are you?" He asked, his voice showing his obvious irritation. "Well, did you forget that Colin was home? Because you guys left him all alone."

Noah grabbed the phone from off of his sister's ear and pulled it to his own. "Dad look, this is really serious okay. I'm sorry I left Colin at home alone, but can we talk about it when we get home?"

"I think you should come home right now and talk about it with me," Nick told his son hotly. "Since obviously you have no intention of going to your class."

"That's right," Noah said defiantly. "As a matter of a fact I have no intention at all of going to my class tonight. Go ahead and cancel my trip to Uncle Peter's if you want."

"Oh, consider it gone," Nick promised him. "I want you to bring your sister home right now. Whatever you're doing, she doesn't need to be a part of it."

"She already is," Noah spat. "I'll be home in an hour, I hope. You can thank me then."

Noah closed Jordan's phone abruptly and popped the battery out so that his father couldn't call them again. Jordan's safety was way more important to him than any trip to London ever would be. He just hated that his father simply wouldn't trust him. If it had been Brandon leaving the house with Marley when he was supposed to have class Nick wouldn't have batted an eyelash. The irony was that Noah had had straight A's in school since the ninth grade. Granted, they weren't high A's like Charlie's were, but he always pulled good grades. Even last semester when he'd gotten in trouble, he still had A's in every course.

"You should've just told him," Marley said with tears in her eyes. She was obviously terrified. "He could help."

"He'll get all worried and upset," Noah told his little sister kindly as he reached across the car and grabbed her hand, squeezing it a little too hard. "And he'll freak Colin out... you know Colin doesn't do well when he's upset."

"Yeah I know," Marley said quietly. "But what if we don't get there in time? What if you can't protect her? What if this guy really is a psycho creep? What if he has a gun Noah?"

"Then I distract him and you get Jordan the hell out of there," Noah said flatly. "I mean it Marley. Take the car if you have to, if this guy's bad news I want you two to get the hell out of dodge."

"What if you get hurt?" Marley said, as she started crying a bit more heavily. Noah admired her, she was trying to be so grown up but she was obviously so scared. He realized he'd been a bad brother by bringing her along, she would have been better off sitting at home worrying.

"I won't Mar," he promised squeezing her hand again. "I promise you, nobody's gonna get hurt."

"You don't know that," Marley pointed out smartly. Noah sighed and made a left turn. No, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he wasn't thinking about smart. He was thinking about his little sister. It was pure stubbornness that he didn't want to involve his father.

"She said something about ice cream?" He asked her as he headed towards downtown Vegas.

"Uh-huh," Marley said, wiping at her eyes.

"Maybe she's at the Baskin Robbins we always go to," he figured, speeding up just a little bit, but he kept his eye on the speedometer. The last thing they needed was to get pulled over. Marley was getting very nervous, and was unable to stop herself from tapping her foot anxiously as her brother made another turn. She just hoped this was where Jordan was, because if she wasn't, Marley had no idea where she would be. There were dozens of ice cream places in this city.

Noah slowed down as they approached the Baskin Robbins they often went to as a family. As he pulled into the parking lot, they immediately spotted their sister Jordan sitting at a picnic table next to a guy. He definitely didn't look like a sixth grader. This kid was at least a few years older than her.

"That fucking piece of shit!" Noah cursed loudly, seeing that loser of a kid Jordan was with. He looked kind of nerdy and like he might be a bit of a loner. Probably why he had to stalk eleven year old little girls on the Internet to get anyone to pay attention to his lousy ass. Noah knew he could easily take this guy if he even put up a fight, which it didn't look like he would. Noah screeched the car to a halt at the curb right next to the picnic table. The noise caught the attention of the couple quickly, as well as several other people nearby.

Noah opened his door, and Marley moved to open hers also. "Stay there, Marley," he barked. "This shouldn't take long."

Marley obeyed and stayed put, but rolled down her window so she could hear what was going on. Jordan had since recognized the car and saw her older brother get out of the driver's seat, looking absolutely pissed. "Jordan, get in the car. Now."

Jordan stood up, her eyes narrowing at her big brother. She looked just as pissed as he did. "No! Why are you even here?"

Noah took several steps towards her and gave the guy she was with a venomous look. "To stop you from doing anything else stupid, and to tell this sleezeball to stay the hell away from my sister," he told Jordan, and gave the kid the worst glare he could muster up. The boy looked absolutely terrified.

"He's not a sleezeball! He's my boyfriend!" Jordan defended Justin, putting her hand on his arm.

Noah scoffed, not knowing what to say. "Listen, I'm sorry if I caused a problem," Justin offered Noah. "I've been talking to Jordan for a while now and we thought it would be cool to meet. I'm not gonna try anything, I swear." 

"How old are you?" Noah asked him, his voice defensive.

"Fourteen," Justin answered.

"My little sister here is eleven, you punk. And if you ever try to contact her again, I will personally hunt you down," Noah threatened.

Jordan looked her older brother in the eye and pecked a kiss on Justin's cheek before wandering back to the car, without even speaking. By the time she made it back to the car and realized Marley was in it, she was beyond angry. It was one thing if Noah betrayed her trust but Marley? How was it that the two siblings that she was the closest to couldn't—no wouldn't trust her?

"Jordan are you okay?!" Marley asked, turning around in her seat as Jordan slammed her way into the back of the car. Jordan gave her twin a dirty look and turned away. "Did he hurt you? Did he like... touch you?"

Jordan shifted again making a point of kicking the back of her sister's seat. She finally pawed through her purse and pulled out her iPod, putting the buds in her ears and turning the volume up to the maximum. Marley had about enough with her sister and turned around violently, she reached up and yanked the headphones out of her sister's ears.

"I asked you if you were okay," Marley said, loudly. "I didn't tell you that you broke a promise. I didn't yell at you for being stupid. I asked if you were okay! The least you could do is give me some sort of nod. You could've been killed! Or raped! Or kidnapped?! And you can't even tell me you're okay? And you know what? Noah gave up his trip to Uncle Peter's for you!"

"I _hate_ you," Jordan said pointedly as she shoved the ear-buds back in her ears.

"Whatever," Marley said as Noah climbed into the car. She looked up at her brother and gave him a half smile, she felt a lot better having him there. "Can we go home?"

"Oh, trust me that's where we're headed," he said, glaring back at his little sister in the back seat. "Put your seatbelt back on, Marley."

The tension in the car was thick as the rolled back into the driveway. Noah told Marley to get out of the car, and he pulled the car around back of the house, where Nick wouldn't be able to see for sure that they were home. He hoped that he'd have a few minutes alone with his little sister before his father came out either to chew him or Jordan out, depending on what Marley said on her way in.

"I get that you're pissed," Noah said, "but I just wanna explain a few things before you and dad have it out, okay?"

"Whatever."

"Look," he said slowly, trying to figure out how to reason with her. "Marley and I didn't know anything about this guy. And, you didn't even tell us where you were going. We weren't trying to ruin your date or your life... we just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm not a toddler," she said, coldly. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, you are, and you're damn lucky you are." He sighed. "God, I don't know what I would've done if you weren't there."

"I'm fine," she said again. "And now thanks to you and Marley I'm going to be dead! Do you have any idea what mom and dad are going to do to me?"

"Sorta," he said giving her a slight chuckle. "Probably something close to what they're gonna do to me for missing class."

"They're not really gonna take London away from you?" She asked, finally starting to calm down a little. "I mean, not that you had any reason to skip class and come looking for me but still...that's not cool."

"Dad's pretty pissed," he admitted quietly. "But it's okay." He couldn't get the horrible image of her in some guy's basement out of his mind. Even though she was safe and in his back seat, still writhing with anger, he couldn't help thinking about it. It was worth losing his trip and whatever else it cost him just to know that wouldn't happen to her.

Jordan's face contorted the way it always did when she was trying not to cry. Now that she was sitting in the driveway, about to have to face her dad, it hit her how much trouble she was going to be in. For a kid like Marley, it may have been easier to accept, but Jordan was different. Getting yelled at and punished in any way felt like the world was ending. "It's not okay!" Her throat closed, the tears threatening to start. "Mom and Dad are gonna hate me!"

Noah sighed, knowing there wasn't much he could do. "They're not gonna hate you," he assured her, reaching out to pat her knee. "They're gonna yell at you and you probably won't be able to leave the house for a long time, but they'll still love you."

"Can I go hide in your apartment?" She asked hopefully, not joking at all. Jordan would do anything in that moment not to have to go inside.

Her older brother chuckled in understanding. "I think you know the answer to that. Come on, I'll go in with you."

Inside the Stokes home, Nick heard the back door open and his heart skipped a beat. He was on the phone with his wife, trying to figure out exactly what to do given the situation. His son had taken off with one of his daughters, and no one was answering the one cell phone in the car. Nick walked into the dining room and saw Marley walking in, looking very upset. "Marley's here. I gotta go," he told Sara, and hung up the phone.

"Marley, honey, what's wrong?" He asked, rushing over to her. Nick put his hands on her shoulders and then delicately brushed some hair out of her face.

The girl choked on a sob, trying to compose herself. Why was she blubbering so much? Jordan was okay, wasn't she? It had just scared her so much, and Jordan had made her so angry. "Daddy, it was awful!" She said, not knowing where to begin.

Nick gently gripped her upper arm and led her to sit on one of the dining room chairs. He knelt in front of her and took her hands to calm her down. "What's awful honey? Where's Noah and Jordan? Are they okay?"

Marley nodded, relieving some of Nick's worst fears. "Daddy, don't hate me, but y-yesterday I was on our computer and I was looking in Jordan's email," she still choked on a few tears. "And she wanted to meet this, this boy she's been talking to online."

Nick's face hardened in deep concern, but he didn't say anything. "And I should've told you yesterday but I didn't cause she promised she wouldn't meet him, but she did! And we didn't know where she was, and she didn't have her phone, so Noah and I were driving around looking for her. Don't be mad at him for missing his class, Dad!"

So much information was coming Nick's way he wasn't sure exactly what to think. Noah hadn't been skipping class for an irresponsible reason at all. He was trying to find his sister, who despite all their talks about safety, had gone to meet some guy from the Internet?

"Where are they now?" He asked, standing up.

"Out in the car," she told him, wiping her eyes with her forearm. Nick torqued his jaw in absolute rage and fear. What the hell had Jordan been thinking? Always well-behaved, sweet, gentle Jordan had done what?

Just as Nick was about to storm outside, the doorknob began to turn slowly.

Nick watched as Noah stepped through the door holding his sister's smaller hand. He met his father's eyes and squeezed his sister's hand gently, and Nick could see the fear on both of their faces. Marley saw them step inside and took the chance to run up the stairs. She really didn't want to be around for this. Nick didn't know which of them to begin with. He owed Noah an apology but still had words he wanted to share with him. Though Noah's motives had been good, he'd gone about the whole situation in the absolute wrong way. And then there was Jordan, he didn't even know where to begin with her.

"Jordan I'm gonna talk to your brother first," He said, trying not to give away that Marley had told him. "I want you to go sit in the living room and stay where I can see you."

"Daddy," she started. "Don't be mad at Noah! Don't punish him!"

"Stay out of it Jordan!" He demanded, fuming. When had he become the bad cop? "Go wait for me in the other room, and don't make a sound!"

Jordan wandered off quietly, too afraid to talk back this time. Nick turned back to his son and squared his jaw, completely unsure of where to begin. "Tell me what happened!"

"Jordan went to meet some guy online," Noah explained matter-of-factly. "I kinda freaked out and I wasn't thinking straight. I know I should have told you what was happening but... all I could think about was that she could be in danger. Dad what if he was some fifty year old pervert? What if he did things to her?"

Nick could tell that his son was still very upset by the whole episode by the way his voice was still shaking. "And what if he was? What if he had a gun Noah?"

"You know Marley asked me the same thing," Noah admitted, frowning. "I didn't care. All I could think about was Jordan and what _could_ be happening to her. Look, I know it was stupid for me to go down there without telling you what was happening but honestly... I wasn't thinking."

"You're still just a kid," Nick said aloud but quietly, imagining how much he could have lost that day. Noah didn't see it, but Jordan wasn't the only one of his kids who had knowingly put themselves in danger that day. "And so is Marley. You should have come to me and let me handle it. You kids don't have to face every problem alone and there are a lot of things that the younger kids shouldn't be involved in."

"I'm sorry," Noah said, still very shaken up. "I kinda figured that one out half way there. Dad, Marley was so upset! I was losing control myself and I was trying to keep it together for her... but we were both just so scared!"

"Well you thought something might happen to your sister," Nick pointed out. "It was okay for you to be scared, hell when you hung up on me I was scared!"

"I guess," Noah admitted quietly. He started walking towards the back door wanting to be away from the chaos for a while. "I'm gonna go up to my apartment and relax. I'll be up there if you need me."

"Okay," Nick said with a sigh, unready to start his talk with Jordan. A moment later he stopped his son, "And Noah—thank you."

Noah gave his father a bit of a half-smile. It felt kinda good that his father had thanked him, but at the same time it made him feel crappy. He wasn't sure what he was trying to prove earlier. He guessed he was just mad that his father had been so quick to judge. At least Jordan was home safe. That was all that mattered. Noah turned and winked at Jordan for good luck before he left.

Nick let out a cleansing sigh, facing the wall with his hands on his hips. He had a million things he wanted to say to Jordan, and demand to have her answer. And probably none of it would make him understand why his daughter would disregard her safety like she had.

Jordan didn't dare say anything, afraid she would set him off. The fierce set of his jaw, and his body language was something she'd never seen before and it terrified her. She'd really screwed up this time, she knew, but at the same time she was glad she met Justin. He was amazing, and she definitely wanted to see him again. Nick turned to face his daughter finally, finding her sitting on the couch nervously, her legs pulled up to her chest. Her eyes immediately darted away.

"Alright, Jordan," he began, stepping further into the room. "I can't imagine you have a good explanation for what you've done, but let's hear it."

"You won't understand," she told him in a tiny voice, avoiding his eyes. Jordan wasn't trying to be rude; she just knew he wouldn't get it.

"No, I probably won't," he agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I really don't understand how you could disregard your safety like you did, how you would even consider meeting someone you met on the Internet. We've talked about this, Jordan, and you know people aren't always who they say they are on the Internet."

"But he was!" She told him, surprised by her braveness, finally meeting his intense eyes. "He was a kid just like he said he was, and we just met for ice cream. What's the harm in that?"

"What's the harm in that?" He asked, incredulous. "Luckily he WAS who he said he was, but you didn't know that! What you did was completely reckless. We had no idea where you were, you snuck off and lied to us. Do you know how much worry you've caused all of us today?"

Jordan teared up and put her hand over her eyes. She was ashamed for causing the family so much worry. She really was. "Dad, I really like him," she admitted, hoping in some way he could understand. Jordan knew she'd gone about it in completely the wrong way, but she really did care for Justin. "I really do. I wouldn't have done this if I didn't think he was really special."

Nick sighed deeply, not really ready for this conversation. His daughter was only eleven years old and already so into a boy she was willing to be honest with him about it. Brandon was in his twenties and just barely at an age where he talked openly with his father about his love life. Still, even at the risk of breaking his daughter's heart, he knew he couldn't be soft about this one.

"Okay," Nick said. "Sweetheart I understand that you care for this boy. But if you want to date you have to talk to your mom and I. I'm not sure we would have been okay with this one if you'd been honest, or not. But this way we're surely not. You're not going to see him again!"

"Dad that's not fair!" She said, feeling really trapped. The last thing she had wanted to happen out of any of this was to lose the one person she cared about most. Justin was special. "Just because Marley and Noah went off the handle you're going to take the best thing that ever happened away from me?!"

"I think that it's pretty obvious that the best thing that ever happened to you," Nick said, frustrated. "Was your brother and sister."

"Yeah!" Jordan said sarcastically. "Two people who'll sell me out!"

"Jordan we _just _talked about this sort of thing," he pointed out. "Don't you remember anything we talked about last night at all? The world isn't exactly a safe place."

"Actually," Jordan said, deciding that she'd already dug her own grave and she might as well make it deep enough to enjoy for a while. "That's what made me realize I'd be okay. I realized that I can trust Justin as much as my own family. More—obviously! And that if I could trust him that much it was stupid for us to be apart. I knew I wasn't going to come back like one of your victims."

"You can't be serious!" Nick said, going blind with frustration. "Jordan you put your own life at risk! And you had the rest of us worried out of our minds!"

"Daddy," she said, still trying to make him understand. "I-"

"I don't want to hear it," Nick interrupted her. "I want you in your room for the rest of the night. Don't come out unless I, personally, come to get you. And if you even think about getting on the computer I'll take it to the lab and have Archie go through it and give me every last keystroke you or your sister have made since you've had it."

Jordan made her way up the stairs silently, not stomping as Marley frequently did. Though, she thought that maybe if her father could see her conversations with Justin he might understand how important he was. He was so much more than Aaron was to Marley. Maybe her father would understand... but he wouldn't, and she knew that. Nobody understood but her and Justin.

While Jordan thought about sneaking onto the computer, weighing the pros and cons of the risk, Sara was in the car with Greg on her way home. When Nick had had the opportunity to go home early, Greg had offered to give her a ride. They were both finishing up when Nick had called her in a panic, saying that he didn't know what was going on with Noah and the twins. So, she and Greg had stepped up their game and left a bit more quickly than they usually did. It was amazing how much both of their priorities had changed since they'd become parents.

"So, Nick didn't say anything? Just that he had to go?" Greg asked his coworker again as they travelled down the road. He was speeding by over 10 miles per hour, something he didn't do for just anyone.

"Nope, nothing," Sara told him. "So I spent almost fourteen minutes scared out of my mind until he finally called back."

Almost as soon as Nick had finished with Jordan, he called his wife back, knowing she was probably worried. He knew she worried worse than he did. "Well, I guess he was taking care of important business, huh?"

"Yeah," Sara agreed. "I don't know the full story yet, but it involves Jordan meeting someone from the Internet, and Noah making some really bad decisions about how to handle it. And Marley's in there somewhere."

"Jordan met someone from the Internet?" Greg asked, shocked. Jordan had always been such a responsible kid. This definitely wasn't like her at all. Sara nodded and let out a huge sigh. "Wow. That doesn't sound like something she'd do."

"No, it doesn't. I can't believe it myself. These kids of ours are growing up, Greg, and they're getting crazier and crazier," Sara quipped. Jordan had never caused them so much worry. Is this what they were in store for for the girls' teen years?

"I hear you," Greg said as he continued down the road. "Rachel just started high school and it's like she's a different person. I don't like her new friends at all, and she's dressing differently."

"Was her friend Katie the one you had to question in that high school case?" Sara asked.

"Yea, it was," Greg told her, checking his rearview mirror. "I had the pleasure of interviewing her, and then promptly forbade Rachel from hanging out with her and several other kids."

"And how's that going?" Sara asked, curious as to how Greg's kids were doing.

Greg chuckled. "Let's just say she's been grounded a lot."

Sara managed a small smile, despite how concerned with Jordan she was. It wasn't exactly nice to hear about the problems Greg had been having with his daughter, but it made her feel better that she and Nick weren't the only ones having issues with their kids. When Noah got busted for pot, she felt like the worst mother in the world. But she knew for a fact Greg was an amazing parent, and he still had trouble with his children on occasion.

"Kids, Greg," Sara quipped. "They're the best and hardest thing that's ever happened to us."

"Amen," he said as he turned onto Sara's street. As they approached the Stokes home, it looked so completely normal and quiet, like everything was perfectly alright. However, inside the drama had been brewing, and while it had settled down, there was still a lot of tension.

Greg pulled into the driveway and put the car in park. He looked over at Sara, who already had her seatbelt undone, poised to exit the car quickly. "Thanks again, Greg. So much. I really owe you one."

"Don't mention it," he said, and winked at her. "Good luck with that kid of yours."

Sara laughed a little as she pushed the door open. "You should probably be saying that to Jordan instead, because I feel like throttling her. Thanks, Greg."

Sara stepped into the house and walked towards the kitchen, where she heard noise. Even if it wasn't Nick, hopefully whoever it was would be able to tell her where her husband was. As she stepped onto the linoleum she smiled at seeing her husband. Nick heard her come in and looked up, he dropped what he was doing when he saw her and stepped forward. In a moment she was wrapped up completely in his arms as he hugged her. She felt the full weight of his body pressed against hers and the tight muscles of his arms locking her close to him. Realizing that what he needed right now was a hug she wrapped her arms around him and pulled tightly onto his back deepening the embrace.

Several long moments later she felt him drop a couple of kisses above her ears before pulling away from her, "We should talk about your children."

"Excuse me?" She asked, pretending to be offended. "I'll remind you that they're your kids too..."

"Likely story," he said and then frowned. "Jordan met some boy from the internet. She didn't even tell us where she was going."

"You told me," Sara said. "What happened?"

"Well I can't get a straight answer out of anyone," Nick told her, letting her see his frustration. "All I know is that Jordan went to meet some boy and Marley was the one to catch her. Noah and Marley took off to go get her and according to Noah he was too worried to think about calling either of us."

"And the guy she met?" Sara asked. "Who was he? Was he her age or older?"

"I don't think he was dangerous," Nick sighed. "The way Jordan was talking about him I'd say she actually had a pleasant time."

"That's not the point Nick!" Sara said loudly. "She could've been abducted or worse!"

"I know that," Nick said, pulling his wife into another hug. "But Noah brought her home safe. I swear sometimes I want to shake that kid and other times I want to hug him."

"That's part of being a parent," Sara informed him. "So, he skipped class... what're we doing?"

"Well," Nick said. "He has to learn to be an adult someday. He can't just handle his problems recklessly and then when he gets lucky and things work out just expect it to be okay."

"I agree," Sara said. "But you said he could miss class for a life altering emergency and I think this qualifies."

"So you think we should still let him go to your brother's?" Nick asked, still not completely convinced. Noah hadn't exactly proven himself to be the most responsible person in the world in the past few years.

"He's a good kid Nick."

Nick sighed and pulled back, then linked his hands with his wife's. "He is," Nick agreed, thinking of the son who had made him both proud and very frustrated over the years. "I just wish he'd stop and think a little more before he does things."

"Me too," Sara agreed, and then placed a supportive kiss on his shoulder. "But I think he should go. It'll be good for him."

Nick nodded in acceptance. While his son had done something incredibly reckless, his heart was in the right place. He was concerned for his little sister. Nick had to admit that he'd done some pretty dumb things when family members' safety was it stake.

"Alright. He goes," Nick said. "As long as he doesn't mess up any more. What about Jordan?"

Sara rested her forehead against Nick's shoulder, as if she had no idea. "Any dungeons nearby?"

Nick didn't think he'd be doing a chuckling that evening, but he did. "I wouldn't stop you," he admitted with a heavy sigh. "I sent her to her room for the evening and told her no computer, but I wanted to talk to you first before we punished her any more."

"Does she seem to understand at all how dangerous that was?" Sara asked.

"No," Nick said, his frustration evident in his voice. They dealt with crime every day, and girls and women who'd been taken advantage of, beat up, or worse. They'd always tried their best to shield their kids from that world, but how could they make her understand? "She wants to see him again. Says she really likes him."

Sara shook her head in disapproval. "I never even saw this coming."

"Me neither," Nick chimed. "That's what's so scary. I think I know my kids, and something like this happens."

Meanwhile, upstairs in the girls' bedroom, Marley was still being given the cold shoulder by her twin. It was really starting to frustrate Marley because she'd done what she did because she loved her sister. She didn't want her to get hurt, but Jordan didn't seem to care. Jordan still had her iPod buds in her ears, like they'd been from the moment she entered the room. Now she just lay on her bed facing the wall. Marley swore she could hear her crying softly.

Marley was debating whether to try to say anything to her again, when Jordan sat up in her bed suddenly and took out her earbuds. "Where's my cell phone?"

Marley looked at her sister, her face red and wet from her crying, but determined. She reached into her back pocket and retrieved her twin's cell phone. "What do you want it for?"

"It's my cell phone," Jordan snapped as she stood up. "I don't have to explain myself to you. Give it to me." She reached out her hand to her twin, but Marley crossed her arms, tucking the phone against her body.

"I'm not gonna let you call him," Marley told her seriously. "How could you even think about doing that with everything that happened today?"

"What happened today," Jordan began, her voice terse and threatening, "is that my own twin sister ruined my life cause she can't mind her own business!"

"Look I'm sorry that I broke your trust," Marley said, realizing that her sister wouldn't ever forgive her for this without an apology. "But I was worried about you. And, in case you didn't figure it out you broke my trust first. You promised you wouldn't meet him."

"It was a dumb thing to make me promise though," Jordan said wiping her eyes. "It's not like I was ever in any real danger. Do you honestly think I'd go meet someone I didn't completely trust? I'm not stupid."

"But how did you know you trust him?" Marley asked, hoping that her sister would start to see where she was coming from. "You'd never met him?"

"You know you can get to know someone without seeing them face to face," Jordan informed her. "And at least I can say that my boyfriend cares about me for me."

"Well so does Aaron," Marley said. "And he's never asked me to do anything dangerous for him."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Jordan asked loudly. "I wasn't ever in any danger! Justin cares about me. He would never put me in danger. I trust him completely. More than I can trust you, obviously."

"Jordan you know you can trust me," Marley pointed out, hurt. "I'd do anything for you—even risk you hating me forever."

"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore!" Jordan said, lunging forward and grabbing the cell phone out of her sister's hand. "I'm never going to forgive you for this. I swear if mom and dad never let me see Justin again then I... well then I guess I just don't have a sister anymore either."

"Don't be stupid Jordan," Marley said. "I'm always gonna be your sister. You're stuck with me and if you ever do something that dumb again I'm still gonna save your ass! So, good luck trying to get rid of me."

"Whatever," Jordan snapped as she began scrolling down her phone book, looking for Justin's phone number. "I'm gonna ask mom and dad if I can move to another room."

"Good luck with that," Marley retorted, thinking her sister had really gone off the deep end. She was blowing this whole trust thing way out of proportion. Jordan thought she was the one being ridiculous, but Marley knew it was the other way around.

A moment later, they heard a knock on their bedroom door. The door opened, and their parents stepped inside. Jordan stuffed her cell phone quickly into her jeans pocket and crossed her arms back over her chest. Her mother crossed the room quickly and immediately took her daughter into her arms. Jordan wasn't sure what it was about her mother looking so relieved and angry, but it made her feel really guilty. For some reason, it always made her feel horrible to know she'd worried her mother.

"Jordan, don't you EVER do that again, do you understand?" Sara told her daughter, her voice soft, but very firm as she held Jordan tightly. Jordan heard fear in her mom's voice, and felt how hard she was hugging her. But even that didn't cause her to want to promise never to see Justin again.

"Mom," she said, again on the verge of tears. Why couldn't she get anyone to understand?

Nick put his hand on his hips and sighed, his shoulders falling. It was really starting to scare him how persistent Jordan was being about this kid. "Marley, can you go downstairs a minute please?" He asked his daughter softly. Marley nodded in understanding and discreetly slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Sara pulled back from the embrace and put her hands on Jordan's arms. "_Promise_ me, Jordan Elizabeth."

Jordan furrowed her eyebrows, staring straight back at her mother. "How can you ask me to do that? You love daddy, right? Well what if you'd happened to meet him over the Internet? What if you'd never met him because you'd never seen him face to face? Maybe I scared you, but it's only because I really REALLY like Justin."

"Jordan, stop it," Nick interrupted, having heard her little spiel earlier. "You may like this Justin kid, but what you've done is shown us you're not responsible enough to date. You didn't use the Internet responsibly, you didn't go about meeting him responsibly, and you don't seem to have any idea how much danger you were in."

"Dad, you don't –"

"Enough!" Nick raised his voice, frustrated that no matter what he said, Jordan didn't seem to understand. "There's no excuse for it, Jordan."

Sara took her daughter's hand and led her to her bed. "Let's sit down," she suggested. Nick was still too livid to sit, so he stayed standing and paced a little bit. "I understand that you like him, sweetheart. But as your parents, we have to look out for your safety. You may think he's trustworthy, but there's no way to know for sure."

"We were in a public place. If he tried to do anything, I would've screamed," Jordan explained logically.

"Okay, did you think that maybe that could just be a front he puts up? Do you really think, if he's a bad person, he's gonna try something right away?" Sara tried to explain without scaring her too much. From her mindframe, it seemed like Jordan needed a scare. "What if he was trying to build up your trust, and then when you think everything is fine, he offers you a ride home and he tries something?"

"He wouldn't do that," Jordan said, her eyes swimming with tears.

Sara paused and made sure to make direct eye contact with her daughter. "That's just it, sweetheart. You don't know," she said the last sentence very slowly.

"But mommy," Jordan said just as slowly. "I wasn't wrong about him! I wasn't! Justin's a really sweet guy and he cares about me and he's my best friend. Please please don't take him away from me. Please. I'll do anything. I'll promise anything."

"Okay," Sara said quietly. She heard Nick suck in a deep breath in disapproval. She honestly felt that she was going to lose her daughter to this boy if she didn't try to compromise about the situation. As little as she liked the idea of her eleven year old dating a fourteen year old she liked the idea of Jordan never forgiving her or Nick even less.

"Okay?" Jordan asked, surprised and excited. "Really? Okay?"

"Okay," Sara nodded. "But there are going to be some ground rules."

"We can handle ground rules," Jordan agreed. The grin on her face told her parents she couldn't believe that they were even having that conversation.

"Sara," Nick interrupted her for a moment. She gave him a half smile and a shrug and he knew the same thing she did - there wasn't going to be any getting past what Jordan did if they didn't try to see it her way. No matter how hard. He shrugged again and frowned, not wanting to hear the rest of the conversation. This was one time he was just going to have to trust his wife. "I uh... I think I'm going to go down stairs and start dinner. Fill me in?"

"I will," Sara said, following her husband to the bedroom door. She dropped a kiss on his cheek on his way out and closed the door behind him. She moved to sit on Marley's bed and crossed her legs, "Come sit over here with me baby."

Jordan sat slowly next to her mother feeling calm for the first time since Noah and Marley had showed up at the ice cream shop. "So, what do I have to do to get you and Daddy and everyone to forgive me? And how can I still see Justin?"

"For starters," Sara said. "You're grounded until the end of the school year. No phone. No internet. No friends. No TV.... nothing. If you're using any sort of technology or socializing at all outside of school your father or I are to be in the room with you where we can hear and see everything you're doing."

"Mom--" Jordan started to protest but quickly gave up. She knew her mother wasn't willing to compromise. "Okay, I guess that's fair."

"It's more than fair," Sara told her sternly. "Now, since you'll be grounded until then this doesn't really matter anyway but you're not allowed to even think about having a boyfriend until the end of the school year. The boys were all allowed to date in seventh grade so until this June, you're not."

"Fine," Jordan said, thinking about how both her and her sister already had boyfriends. She just wouldn't advertise it.

"Once the school year ends we'll consider lightening your punishment," Sara informed her. "You'll be allowed to see Justin as long as you've been following our rules to the letter. And trust me... if I doubt you for a second I'll have Archie in here tracking your every move so fast it'll make your head spin."

"I promise," Jordan said quietly. "I won't break any of the rules. Just tell me what I have to do to see him."

"When you start getting privileges back," Sara said slowly. "You may see Justin. But only at our house when both your father and I are home. And it'll be that way until he's built trust from your father and I. Okay?"

"I can live with that," Jordan said, deciding that Justin was worth everything she was giving up. "Anything else?"

"Thank your brother and sister," Sara said. "And tell them you're sorry and you love them. They really put their necks on the line for you today... not every kid in the world is that lucky."

Sara wrapped her daughter into a hug one more time thinking about how lucky she was to have Noah as an older brother and that she hadn't been in more danger. It was obvious that Jordan still didn't grasp how horrible that day could have been for her and a part of Sara was thankful. At least Jordan had the kind of family backing her up that hopefully she would never have to know how terrible the world really could be.

She pressed a kiss to her daughter's head, and took a moment to let her body relax a little more. Yes, it had been a terrible afternoon, but it had all turned out okay in the end. "Oh, you mentioned you've talked to Justin a couple of times. I need his phone number, because I need to talk to his mother."

Jordan nodded and took her cell phone out of her pocket. She scrolled through the phone book and showed her mother his home number. "Thanks, I'll write that down," Sara told her and held out her hand to receive the phone. "And this you won't be needing for quite a while."

Jordan sighed in mourning, but she wasn't about to complain. Her parents were going to let her see Justin again, so being grounded for a couple months didn't seem all that bad any more. "I'm gonna go downstairs and explain all this to your dad. We'll come get you when it's dinner time."

"Okay, Mommy," she agreed as she laid down on her bed and picked up a notebook. "Thanks for understanding."

"You're welcome," Sara walked to her bed and dropped another kiss to her forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too."

Sara left her daughter's bedroom and headed down the stairs, hearing her husband carry on a conversation with Marley over cooking. "Measure out half a cup for me, sweetheart," he instructed her as Sara stepped into the kitchen. She leaned against the entryway and just watched them for a few moments. Marley's much smaller frame stood next to her husband's, well built and athletic. Despite the way he was being gentle and patient with Marley, like he always was, Sara could tell he was a bit concerned. He kept his jaw slightly clenched, and his whole body just looked tense.

She probably should've talked to him first before deciding on the spot that Jordan could see this boy again. Sara thought he understood her reasoning though, and he could see it too – Jordan really did care for this boy. She very rarely disobeyed them or did anything wrong, which was why this caught Sara's attention. If he meant that much to her, that she'd do something she knew her parents wouldn't approve of, then maybe that was reason they should see each other. Once the initial shock and anger had worn off, Sara had begun to see the situation more clearly.

"Hi, Mom," Marley chirped a little hesitantly, still trying to gauge her parents' mood. Nick looked over at his wife for a moment and then turned his attention back to what he was doing. He didn't look angry or upset, just a little tired.

"Hi, baby," Sara stepped inside and walked over to her daughter. "I'm sorry, I don't think I even hugged you earlier." She wrapped her arms around Marley and squeezed her tight. It was easy to lose track of the other kids when one in particular had given them a problem.

"It's okay, Mom," Marley told her, hugging her back. "You were busy."

"Thanks," Sara replied softly. "How was your day, other than all this drama?"

Marley smirked a little bit. "Boring," she replied. "But I got a 'B' on that science test you helped me study for."

"Good job," Sara praised her, dropping a kiss to her head. "Hey, do you mind if I talked to Daddy in private for a minute?"

"Nope," she answered cheerfully. "Can I go to your room and call one of my friends? Since it's Friday that means I'm not grounded any more."

"Sure," she said. Within a few moments, Marley had scampered off up the stairs happily. It was silent in the kitchen for a few moments, only the sound of chicken simmering on the stove and Nick chopping up some vegetables. Sara stepped over and gently wound her hands around his strong midsection and pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades. "Sorry if I pulled that out of nowhere," she apologized.

Nick stopped what he was doing and set the cutting knife down and wiped his hands on a dishtowel. Sara felt his warm hands cover hers. "Well, I'm trying to trust you on it," he told her. "I am a little upset you didn't talk with me about it first. I mean, we agreed on our approach before we went up and talked to her, and that wasn't part of it."

He turned around in her arms so they could talk face to face. That always worked to her advantage because she'd been told her eyes have quite an effect on him. "I know," Sara said softly. "I should've checked with you first, but I started to see how much she really cares for him." 

"Sar, she's eleven," Nick pointed out. "She's just a child. She doesn't know what love is, and she shouldn't. Not that kind. And I'm really not sure if we should be rewarding such bad behavior. What's that saying? If you really really want something, disobey your mom and dad and put yourself in danger, then they'll be willing to compromise with you?"

"I don't think so," Sara said delicately. Honestly she had no idea how to handle the situation. None of their children had ever been as well behaved as Jordan was over the years—not even Charlie. Yet still none of them had ever messed up this badly—though Noah's stint with Pot brought him pretty close. It was really hard to judge how to handle it. "All I know is that it's usually better to parent and govern each child based on his or her needs. I think this is what Jordan needs right now."

"And what happens the next time she thinks she really wants something?" Nick asked, frustrated. He knew that his wife was right; at least in part. It didn't make it any easier. "Do we just give in then, too?"

"Jordan doesn't lie to us," Sara stated quietly. Jordan was the only one of their combined six that had never told them a lie. "I don't know about you but I'm not ready to lose that. Even if she doesn't stay our little girl forever I want her to be our honest daughter forever."

"I'm not ready to lose that either," Nick agreed. "Do you really think we would have if we hadn't let her see this boy? I don't like him."

"We don't know him yet Nick," Sara said trying her hardest to reserve judgment. "And our daughter does like him. We're damn good parents. Both of us. This is the right thing to do. I know it is."

"I think you're right," Nick agreed. "I just don't exactly like it."

Sara stopped and grabbed her husband. She gave him a warm hug and then planted a kiss on his lips. "I love you, you know."

"I do," he whispered, dropping a kiss on her lips. "I love you too."

"You better," Sara said playfully and shoved him a little. "We'll get through this. She's a good kid, you know? This came out of left field and all but I'm willing to bet she's still our good one."

"Oh I hope so," Nick laughed. "Because I'm not sure I could handle it if she was the bad one more than once every decade if she's gonna give us whoppers like this one."

Sara tugged her husband a little closer and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She leaned in and captured his lips in a soft, but passionate kiss. After such a long, trying day, it felt so good to be in his arms. It seemed there was nothing his kisses couldn't cure.

"Did I ever mention what a great kisser you are?" She asked him, pulling back just slightly. Nick let his hands rest on her hips before chuckling and leaning in for more.

A few moments later, the front door opened, interrupting their make-out session. Nick pulled back and pressed one last kiss to her forehead. "We should go to bed early tonight."

"We should," Sara agreed as Charlie walked into the living room area, looking exhausted after an afternoon of work. He was oblivious to the mountains of drama that had occurred since he'd left earlier.

"Hey Mom, Nick," he greeted them dismissively as he plopped down on the couch.

"Hey, Charlie," Sara told him as she moved closer to the living room. "How was work?"

"Oh, fine," he said, nudging his shoes off so he could lay them on the coffee table.

"You didn't spend your paycheck on clothes again did you?" Nick teased his stepson, seeing a small bag on the floor next to him. Charlie had been known to spend a large chunk of his paycheck on clothes from Hollister, the store he worked at. At least he got it at a discount, and it saved Nick and Sara from having to go in there with the girls, who were quickly developing expensive taste for clothing. Especially Marley.

"Nope, this is for Marley," he told his parents, picking the bag up to retrieve the item. His parents usually previewed any clothing items for the girls to make sure it wasn't inappropriate. Jordan had never tried anything, but Marley had already chosen some items that were later vetoed. Charlie tossed a v-neck t-shirt to his mother, and then a different t-shirt to Nick. "That one's for Jordan."

Nick slung the shirt over his shoulder. "She won't be getting this for a while," he commented to his wife.

"Why? What happened?" Charlie asked as he settled back into the couch. Nick and Sara looked at each other, not knowing quite where to start. Then, despite the day's stress, Sara started laughing and sat down next to her son.

Charlie looked puzzled to say the least as his mother gently kissed the side of his cheek. "Oh, Charlie," she sighed tiredly. "It's amazing how much you miss in this house in just a few hours."


End file.
